Man convicted of sexual assault on minor girl in south-west Delhi

Accused was earlier convicted of raping victim’s elder sister

June 25, 2019 01:17 am | Updated 01:17 am IST - New Delhi

A court here has held a man guilty of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl when she was on her way to home from school in south-west Delhi in 2013. Earlier, the accused used to live near the victim’s house in Gurugram.

A Haryana court had earlier convicted the accused of raping the elder sister of the minor.

Additional Sessions Judge Sanjay Garg convicted the accused Shankar Mehro on the basis of evidence by the victim and her father.

The accused had challenged the prosecution submitting that there was a delay of five days in lodging the FIR, but the court rejected it saying that the police were to be blamed for it. “Needless to say, the delay in registration of the FIR was occasioned due to the lapse on the part of the police and the same cannot be attributed to the prosecutrix and the complainant,” the Judge said. The counsel for the accused also submitted that he could not be convicted solely on the basis of the statements of the victim as the police had failed to examine her classmates as witnesses. However, the court rejected this argument.

‘No reason to disbelieve’

“There is no material contradiction in her statements. The accused has failed to dent the testimony of the prosecutrix. Hence, there is no reason to disbelieve the testimony of the prosecutrix,” the Judge said.

“The prosecution has succeeded in laying down the foundational facts of the case that the prosecutrix was below the age of 12 years at that time and that the accused had not only committed sexual assault on her but also had criminally intimidated her. In view of the same, the presumption under Section 29 of the POCSO Act that the accused had committed the offences has to be raised against him,” the court said.

“The accused has failed to rebut the said presumption either by discrediting the prosecution witnesses or by leading any defence evidence to prove that the offences in question were not committed by him,” the Judge said while convicting the accused.

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