‘Minor girl aware of bad touch’: Bombay HC upholds ex-army officer's jail term
The accused had moved a petition in the high court challenging the confirmation of the court martial verdict by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in January 2024.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday refused to quash a court martial order sentencing a former Lieutenant Colonel to five years' imprisonment for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl, noting the victim was well aware of the “bad touch”.
According to a PTI report, the incident happened in February 2020 when the havildar had brought his daughter and younger son to the accused's room when he asked to meet them.
The assault allegedly happened when her father left the room. A complaint was lodged when the girl immediately called her father and explained the incident.
In March 2021, the General Court Martial (GCM) of the Army had held the former officer guilty of committing aggravated sexual assault on a minor girl and sexual harassment under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The accused had moved a petition in the high court challenging the confirmation of the verdict by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in January 2024. He was sentenced to a minimum five-year imprisonment by the court martial.
‘Had no ill intention’
The former officer contended in his plea that he had no ill intention and that he touched the girl and asked for a kiss only out of “grandfatherly/fatherly love” for the child.
While hearing his petition, a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale noted that the victim demonstrated with “immense clarity” how the accused behaved with her once her father left the room.
In her statement before the court-martial, the victim denied the accused's claim that he had not touched her with any bad intent and that it was like a touch of a parent or grandfather. The high court said that the minor girl's instinct of identifying a “bad touch” must be believed.
The bench also noted that the accused had met the girl for the first time and there was no need or reason for him to hold her hand even under the pretext of reading her palm, touching her thigh, and requesting to kiss her.
“The girl immediately sensed a bad touch and reported as such to her father instantly. In view of this deposition, we are unable to take issues and dissent with the findings of either the GCM or the AFT,” the HC bench said, adding that it had not found any error with findings by the GCM or AFT.
The accused contended that the findings in the case had not appreciated the evidence properly, violating his fundamental rights.
“We do not find any violation of the fundamental rights of the petitioner. There is no infirmity in the decision-making process in arriving at the impugned finding by both the GCM and AFT,” the bench added.
The justices also noted that the victim has narrated the series of incidents consistently throughout the trial and also displayed “immense clarity” in explaining the manner of the accused's behaviour.
(With PTI inputs)
