"How Can There Be A Price Tag On Survivor's Suffering": Court In Rape Case

A Delhi court has sentenced a man to life-term imprisonment in a case of kidnapping and rape of a minor in 2021 and said a clear message had to be sent out that violators of POCSO law will be held accountable.

Additional sessions judge Susheel Bala Dagar heard the case against the 31-year-old convict punished under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act and IPC for the offences of rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation.

On the compensation scheme for POCSO survivors, the court said a survivor's suffering had no price tag.

"In any beneficial scheme or legislation, there cannot be a concept of maximum. How can there be a price tag on the suffering of the survivor? No amount of compensation can undo the trauma. The least that can be done to help the survivor is to get his/her life back on track," the court said.

The court awarded a Rs 10.5 lakh compensation, saying it would assist in the survivor's rehabilitation.

Additional public prosecutor Yogita Kaushik Dahiya argued the convict deserved no leniency for the reprehensible and despicable act as he kidnapped the girl on by luring her with eatables on July 26, 2021.

Dahiya argued the convict raped the minor while threatening her with a knife. The prosecutor said he was convicted of rape by a court in Uttar Pradesh as well.

In a verdict passed on March 5, the court said, "A clear message that anyone who violates the POCSO Act will be held accountable for their actions must be sent to society at large by imposing a penalty that is proportionate to the act of sexual assault or sexual harassment. In the present case, the convict is found to be having perverse lust for sex." It was the society's responsibility, the court said, to protect children from sexual abuse as the psychological scars of such abuse were indelible.

"Taking into consideration the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, including gravity of the offence, the age of the victim and convict, the earlier involvement of the convict in a similar offence, social and economic factors governing them, the convict is sentenced for life imprisonment for the offence under section 6 of the POCSO Act," it held.

The convict was further sentenced to a rigorous jail term of seven years each for the offences of kidnapping and criminal intimidation which was directed to run concurrently. 

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