POCSO Act: Bombay High Court considers convict's young age, father's death while reducing life sentence

The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court last week reduced the life sentence awarded to a man convicted for offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, considering his young age at the time of the offence and his familial responsibilities [Pradip @ Golu Dandge vs State of Maharashtra]..A Division Bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Vrushali Joshi reduced the convict's life sentence to 14 years in jail, while noting,"There is no denial that the accused was a young boy of 20 years shouldering responsibility of his widowed sister and her son. Moreover, he has no father. There can be no dispute that the accused has committed an offence relating to innocent child who has not even seen the world. If he has been incarcerated for considerable period, that would serve the purpose. The imprisonment for a term of 14 years would be adequate, to teach him a lesson.".The Bench noted that the accused had not undergone a major portion of sentence, so that he could be freed. Since his arrest in September 2013, the convict has been in jail for 4 years and 2 months. "Imposition of 14 years terms would require him to still remain behind bars for further considerable period. Therefore, we are of the considered view to maintain the conviction, but, to reduce the sentence to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 14 years with fine along with default clause," the Court held..The Court was hearing an appeal challenging the sentence imposed on the appellant by a special POCSO court in Akola, convicting him for raping a minor girl. The special court had imposed a sentence of life term till the end of his natural life in jail. This, the appellant claimed, was too harsh a punishment.As per the prosecution, on September 24, 2013, the appellant had given ₹5 to a seven-year-old girl living in the neighbourhood to bring him an oil sachet. When she went to his house to deliver the oil sachet, he pulled her in, made her stand on a chair and raped her. The girl, who was in immense pain and bleeding, informed her maternal aunt of the incident. Her mother, a domestic help, later filed a complaint on the basis of which a first information report (FIR) was lodged, after which the appellant was arrested. .Before the High Court, the appellant confessed that he does not have a good case to challenge the conviction, and only argued on the point of quantum of punishment imposed by the special POCSO court.Sentencing, the judges said, is an important task in the matters of crime as one of its prime objectives is imposition of appropriate, adequate, just and proportionate sentence, commensurate with the nature and gravity of crime and the manner in which the crime is done. "There is no straitjacket formula for sentencing an accused on proof of crime. What sentence would meet the ends of justice depends on the facts and circumstances of each case and the court must keep in mind the gravity of the crime, motive for the crime, nature of the offence and all other attendant circumstances. The principle of proportionality, prescribes that, the punishments should reflect the gravity of the offence and also the criminal background of the convict," the judges opined.With these observations, the Bench partly allowed the appeal and modified the sentence..Advocate RM Daga appeared for the appellant. Additional Public Prosecutor HD Dubey represented the State..[Read order]