New Delhi: A 25-year-old man, convicted for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old boy last year, was on Monday sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment by a Delhi court which observed that "reformative approach" should be adopted while imposing sentence.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma convicted Ram Parvesh under various sections of the IPC and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.
"Avoiding the temptation to venture into a long academic discussion, suffice to state that these are plethora of case laws on the subject and the upshot of the above discussion is that the main aim of the punishment is protection of society and the reformative approach is the most cherished one while imposing sentence upon the guilty," the court said.
It also observed that the eight-year-old victim had no problem in rehabilitating himself after the incident and there was no specific provision under the POCSO Act which bars or restricts application of the Probation of Offenders Act.
"Therefore in the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, considering the age of the convict and also keeping in mind that the boy/child/victim in this case has had no problem in rehabilitating himself after the incident, the convict is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year....," the judge said.
According to the police, Parvesh had sexually assaulted the minor in June last year. It said that the boy was playing outside his house when the accused came there and took him to his room and sexually assaulted him.
During the trial, Parvesh claimed that he had been falsely implicated in the case and the defence counsel also alleged that there were contradictions in the testimony of the boy before the court and in his statement recorded before a magistrate under section 164 CrPC.
