Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 11: The Fast Track Court for POCSO cases, Srinagar awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and penalty to the accused for committing rape on a minor girl.
The Fast Track court for POCSO Cases Srinagar presided over by Aarti Mohan while convicting the accused Danish Mehraj Guroo of Sumerbugh area of Pantha Chowk Srinagar for committing offence under section 376 of IPC awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs. 25000 of penalty on him.
“I feel that the mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating circumstances in the case and the award of the minimum punishment shall serve the ends of justice. Since the convict is held guilty of committing both aggravated penetrative sexual assault punishable under section 6 of POCSO Act and section 376 of IPC, as such, he is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of 20 years for the offence punishable under section 6 of POCSO Act and fine of Rs. 25000”, reads the quantum of judgment.
The court further clarified that if the fine realized from the accused shall be payable to the victim as compensation and in case of failure to pay the amount of fine, the accused shall undergo further imprisonment for 6 months.
“The period of custody already undergone by the convict shall be deducted from the sentence awarded to him. The convict after announcement of judgment was sent to Central Jail Srinagar where he shall be sent back to serve the remaining period of sentence awarded to him”, Court said.
The court after perusal of the file said, the victim was subjected to repeated penetrative sexual assault resulting in her pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage was awarded an interim compensation of Rs 3 lakhs as victim compensation for the purpose of rehabilitation by this court during the course of trial.
The Secretary DLSA Srinagar has been directed to forward the case of the victim to Member State Legal Service Authority J&K forthwith in this regard.
The APP has submitted that the convict has repeatedly committed penetrative sexual assault upon a minor girl and due to his act the victim even became pregnant as such he does not deserve any leniency and may be awarded imprisonment for life.
“However, this court cannot overlook the fact that the victim was a minor girl at the time of the occurrence and was motivated to enter into repeated sexual intercourse by the accused without consideration to her age which has resulted in her pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage”, court said.
The accused-Guroo was on bail and after conviction has been directed to be taken into custody forthwith and sent to Central Jail, Srinagar. The alleged occurrence took place on 3rd December 2020 and the father of the victim filed an application u/s 156(3) Cr.P.C for registration of FIR against the accused on the grounds that his minor daughter has been kidnapped by the accused-Guroo and accordingly FIR No. 223/2020 u/s 363, 342, 506 IPC was registered against the accused person.
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