Man sentenced to 12 years rigorous imprisonment for raping minor

By A Staff Reporter

IMPHAL | Oct 12

The Special Judge, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Imphal West today sentenced a 62 year old man to rigorous imprisonment for a period of 12 years and imposed a fine of Rs. 20,000 on him for sexually assaulting a 9 year old minor girl.

The man identified as Huidrom Bheigya Singh, 62, son of late H. Anagangyaima Singh of Komlakhong, Ereima Maning Leikai, was convicted under section 4 of the POCSO Act for committing penetrative sexual on minor.

The convict was produced before the special judge of POCSO, M. Manjokumar Singh today and the sentence hearing was conducted.

During the hearing the special public prosecutor submitted that the accused is convicted under section 4 protection of POCSO for committing penetrative sexual assault on a minor girl, which is very serious offence particularly because the accused is a matured person, having full knowledge of the situation and prayed to award the sentence to maximum like life imprisonment.

The counsel of the accused in his submission however contended that the accused is now an aged person of 62 year and has a wife with an unsound. He also said the accused has no antecedent of criminal activities.

It also further mentioned that on that day of the offence the accused was drunk and the act was done under the influence of alcohol. Moreover, the counsel submitted that his client has also been in judicial custody since the day of the incident and prayed for awarding minimum sentence by considering these mitigating factors.

The court after hearing submissions of both the counsels and considering the materials on record, observed that the act committed by the accused to a victim, who was a minor of 9 years and who also used to call him “pupu” (Grandfather) is a very much an inhuman act.

The Special judge therefore ordered that the convict Huidrom Bheigya Singh be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of 12 years and fine of Rs. 20,000 under the section 4 of POCSO Act and in default of payment of fine, the accused has to undergo another six months simple imprisonment.

It is also further ordered that the said fine of Rs. 20,000 shall be deposited to the court and the said amount be given to the victim as compensation. The period which the victim has already undergone in judicial custody during the period of investigation as well as during the trial will be set off from the sentence awarded, the order said.

The court has also recommended for providing compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs from the scheme “Financial Assistance and Support Service to Victim of Rape” a scheme for retrospective justice launched by the Ministry of Women and Children Development, Government of India.

The convict Bheigya Singh was apprehended by the police following a written complaint lodged by the mother of the victim girl on September 2, 2015 stating that on September 1, 2014 at about 4.30 pm her two minor daughters went to their nearby shop to buy some eatables.

On their way home, the accused who is their neighbour and also the so-called grandfather of the said kids, called them inside his house.

The report further stated that the accused sent the younger sister of the victim to play outside his room but he accompanied the victim insides his room and on the pretext of scratching the skin itches, he raped the victim on his bed.

The incident came to light when the victim girl disclosed the same to her aunty on September 2, 2015 thereupon a regular case FIR No. 45(9) 2015 WPS, IW,u/s 4 POCSO Act was filed.

Following the completion of the investigation by the women PS, Imphal West submitted charge sheet against the accused on February 23, 2016 before the special judge POCSO, Imphal West and continued trail during which statement of 13 witnesses have recorded and examined by the court.

The accused was convicted by the judge on October 9 and sentence was issued today.