Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 – ss.6, 29 – Penal Code, 1860 – s.506 – Sexual assault on minor – Repeated aggravated penetrative sexual assault by father upon his minor daughter, aged ten years old – These acts were sustained, deliberate assaults within the safety of the home – Conviction of the father u/s.6 POCSO Act and s.506 IPC and imposition of life imprisonment by the courts below – Correctness:
Held: Conviction and sentence awarded by the courts below found to be just, lawful and necessary – No infirmity or perversity in the concurrent findings of the courts below – Presumption u/s.29 stood unrebutted – Victim’s testimony was unwavering, medically corroborated, and free from embellishment – Her disclosure, though delayed, was truthful and borne out of perennial trauma and threats she has undergone – Testimony of a child victim, if found credible and trustworthy, requires no corroboration – Courts below have not merely accepted the victim’s account, they have validated it through unimpeachable scientific evidence – DNA report sealed the evidentiary chain and has dispelled all doubts in the prosecution case – No daughter, however aggrieved, would fabricate charges of this magnitude against her own father merely to escape household discipline – Such offences of sexual abuse deserve nothing but the severest condemnation and deterrent punishment – Entertaining of the present petition or remotely considering the grant of bail, after the guilt has been proved and affirmed, would not merely undermine the majesty of the law, it would amount to a betrayal of the constitutional promise made to every child of this country – It would be a judicial insult to the sanctity of womanhood and a blow to every mother who teaches her child to believe in justice – When a father who is expected to be a shield, a guardian, a moral compass, becomes the source of the most severe violation of a child’s bodily integrity and dignity, the betrayal is not only personal but institutional – Incestuous sexual violence committed by a parent is a distinct category of offence that tears through the foundational fabric of familial trust and must invite the severest condemnation in both language and sentence – There can be no mitigation in sentencing for crimes that subvert the very notion of family as a space of security – Arc of constitutional justice, particularly u/Art.142, extends beyond punishment to encompass rehabilitation, reparation, and the affirmation of human dignity – Having regard to the age of the victim at the time of the offence, the sustained nature of the abuse, and the constitutional obligation to provide meaningful redress, a sum of Rs.10,50,000/- to be paid to the victim as compensation as per the Scheme by the State. [Paras 4-17]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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