53-year-old Chandigarh man who raped minor jailed for 20 years
The court also imposed a fine of ₹51,000 on the convict, Chattar Singh, who works at a cosmetics shop; the case dates back to March 2021
Over two years after a 53-year-old man raped an 11-year-old girl after luring her with a free nail polish bottle, a fast-track POCSO court has sentenced him to 20 years in jail.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹51,000 on the convict, Chattar Singh, who works at a cosmetics shop.
The case dates back to March 2021. The child’s mother had told the police that her daughter had suddenly started behaving indifferently. On being coaxed, the minor revealed that she had gone to the market to buy milk, where Chattar called her to his shop for free nail polish bottle and raped her.
On the mother’s complaint, the accused was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The fast-track court held Chattar guilty of the offences on Monday and pronounced the quantum of sentence on Tuesday.
The court held that the child’s version was consistent, unblemished and free from concoction. “It is an attack on the physical autonomy and self-respect of the victim child but also on the future of the nation. Such brutal and lusty acts require to be strongly dealt with. The case is a live example of a barbaric act, wherein a victim of around 11 years was subjected to aggravated damage to her private part,” the order said.
Stating that the heinous and deplorable act of the convict called for maximum punishment, the court awarded him 20 years in jail under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc), 376 AB (rape on woman under 12 years of age) of the IPC and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.
The court also forwarded the case to the District Legal Services Authority, Chandigarh, to award ₹4-lakh compensation to the child’s family.