 Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 1: Principal Sessions Judge Ganderbal Abdul Nashir today awarded life imprisonment till the remainder of his natural life to Bihari carpenter Virender Thakur for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a five‑year‑old girl at Shadipora, terming the crime one that “shakes the conscience of society”.
The court held Thakur guilty under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Sections 342 and 506 of the IPC on a chargesheet arising out of FIR No. 267/2023 registered at Police Station Ganderbal, while dropping Section 511 IPC and Sections 7/8 POCSO during investigation for lack of evidence.
According to the prosecution, complainant filed a written report at Police Post Shadipora on September 18, 2023, stating that three Bihari labourers were working as carpenters at his house when he heard cries from inside. His minor daughter, who had just returned from school, was found weeping and told the family that one of the Bihari workers had entered her room, molested her, tried to open her trouser and clicked photographs on his mobile phone.
On this report, FIR No. 267/2023 under Sections 376, 342, 506 IPC and 3/4 POCSO Act was registered and investigation entrusted to PSI Rayees Ahmad, who obtained the child’s school record from DPS Sehpora showing her date of birth as October 17, 2017, establishing that she was barely five‑plus at the time of occurrence. The victim was medically examined at District Hospital Ganderbal, her statement and that of her mother were recorded under Section 164 CrPC, and the accused was arrested after seizure of his OPPO F‑17 mobile phone, a belt, knife and glue‑stick allegedly u While pronouncing the conviction, the Principal Sessions Judge emphasised that the accused had exploited the absence of the family and the trust reposed in him as a carpenter to attack a child barely over five years old, a circumstance that “definitely shakes the conscience of the society at large”.
The court noted certain contradictions about the exact timing of arrest and seizure of the phone, and about whether the victim’s clothes were formally seized, but held these to be minor discrepancies in a POCSO matter where the core of the prosecution case remained intact. It observed that the victim’s consistent, detailed testimony, corroborated by her parents and relatives, medical findings of redness, seizure of the threatening articles and electronic data from the accused’s phone, proved beyond reasonable doubt that he had committed aggravated penetrative sexual assault and criminal intimidation of the minor.
While pronouncing the conviction, the Principal Sessions Judge emphasised that the accused had exploited the absence of the family and the trust reposed in him as a carpenter to attack a child barely over five years old, a circumstance that “definitely shakes the conscience of the society at large”. Referring to Supreme Court precedents on proportional sentencing, the court held that offenders who commit crimes against children “deserve no leniency”, rejected the defence plea for a lighter sentence and concluded that the act was in fact pre‑planned and pre‑meditated.
Holding that the case did not fall in the “rarest of rare” category warranting death, the court sentenced Thakur to life imprisonment under Section 6 of POCSO “which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of natural life”, besides one year’s rigorous imprisonment and Rs 1,000 fine under Section 342 IPC and two years’ rigorous imprisonment and Rs 2,000 fine under Section 506 IPC, all sentences to run concurrently. (JNF) |
