Overview
- Across Manipur, Kerala and Haryana, special courts concluded child sexual assault trials with sentences ranging from 20 and 24 years to life imprisonment under the POCSO Act.
- In Manipur’s Senapati district, a Special POCSO Court ordered life imprisonment for a father convicted of raping his minor daughter, levied a fine, and directed Rs 7 lakh in state compensation with most funds locked in a fixed deposit until adulthood.
- In Kerala’s Idukki district, a fast-track POCSO court sentenced a 44-year-old neighbor to a total of 24 years for assaulting a five-year-old girl, imposed a Rs 2.2 lakh fine, and recommended additional victim compensation through the legal services authority.
- In Haryana, a Gurugram court gave 20 years to a man for raping a 14-year-old, and a Nuh fast-track court issued a separate 20-year term with a Rs 40,000 fine after evidence showed abduction, assault at gunpoint, and threats, with custody time credited in both cases.
- Courts repeatedly highlighted proof as decisive, noting medical and forensic reports and direct testimony; in a separate Mumbai case, a judge issued five years for aggravated sexual assault after finding no medical evidence of penetration, underscoring how charges and sentences track what evidence can prove.