Delhi HC Affirms Guilt of Man Who Sodomized Homeless 11-Year-Old Boy

The Delhi High Court has rejected the appeal filed against the case in which a man was found guilty of indulging in sodomy with an 11-year-old homeless child. While rejecting the appeal, the court has reduced the jail term of the man from 20 years to 10 years. The reason behind reducing the jail term of the man was that there was only a provision for 10 years of imprisonment according to the law at the time when the crime took place. Therefore, it was impossible to apply the stricter law for imposing a penalty on the man. This verdict was announced by Justice Sudha Chandrashekaran on August 10.

Reasons Behind the Reduction of the Sentence

According to the provisions of the POCSO Act, there should be at least 20 years of imprisonment for this kind of offense, but the POCSO Act came into effect on August 16, 2019, which is way past when the crime took place in November 2016. The boy was sleeping close to the railway tracks at the Kashmir Gate when he was subjected to sexual abuse by the criminal.

The Court Rejects the Defence Arguments

The counsel of the accused raised the defence argument that the prosecution failed to prove the fact that the child was below 12 years, since he had discrepancies in his account of the case as well as the clothing worn when it happened. The Court did not accept this argument. The Court believed that it was an unrealistic expectation to have a street child know about all the particulars. The date of birth of the accused in the school records was October 12, 2005, making him 11 years old when the crime was committed against him.