The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has reduced the sentence of a convicted rapist charged under the POCSO Act to 10 years, adding that the trial court’s punishment of a life sentence was ‘too harsh’.
As per reports, the Bombay High Court Justices Nitin B Suryavanshi and Pravin S Patil admitted that the prosecution’s case was valid and held the rapist guilty, proven beyond reasonable doubt. However, the bench stated that the verdict of a life sentence was ‘harsh and excessive’.
The accused, a labourer from Akola, Maharashtra, was convicted in 2013 for sexually assaulting a one-year-old infant, and even attempting to rape the baby’s mother.
The bench also admitted that the witness statement and medical report of the victim conclusively proved that the sexual assault on the baby. H had indeed taken place, and the convict was guilty. However, the bench still added that the life sentence must be reduced to 10 years in jail because a life sentence for the rapist of the child is ‘harsh and excessive’.
