Madras High Court upholds jail for sex assault on minor girl

Chennai: The Madras high court upheld an order of a lower court convicting a college student for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl when she went to a nearby forest area for answering nature’s call since there was no toilet facility in her house, on July 4, 2014 at Kattipiringiyam village in Ariyalur district.

“This court, on taking into consideration the entire gamut of the facts and circumstances of the present case, in a conspectus manner and also bearing in mind, the facts of the present case which float on the surface, comes to an inevitable and irresistible conclusion that the prosecution had proved the charge of sexual assault against the accused under section 7 and 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act”, said Justice M.Venugopal.

The prosecution case was that on July 4, 2014 at about 7 pm when the IX standard victim girl went to a nearby forest area, situated at the backside of her house, for answering nature's call, the accused followed her and pulled her hand and when she shouted, he closed her mouth, pulled her down, lay down on her and tried to molest her. When her mother came running from the house on hearing her voice, the accused fled from the scene. The Mahila Court in Ariyalur district found him guilty and convicted and sentenced him to three years RI. Aggrieved, the accused filed the present appeal.

Upholding the conviction, the judge said admittedly, the victim girl had clearly narrated about the occurrence in lucid terms through her evidence, which was indeed in the considered opinion of this court was unimpeachable and unassailable one. Furthermore, the evidence of the affected girl about the happening of the occurrence was a cogent and convincing one. Therefore, her evidence was worthy and acceptable and the same was accepted by this court, the judge added.

The judge said the victim girl, in a crystalline fashion, had spoken about the manner of occurrence and the malevolent conduct of the accused. In fact, the mother of the victim girl, hearing the noise / cry of her daughter, who came to the place of occurrence, had seen the accused at the time. Therefore by no stretch of imagination, it could be said that the appellant's identity was not known either to the victim girl or to her mother.

Finding the sentence of three years imposed on the accused was slightly on the higher side, the judge, however, modified the same to that of 2 years RI.