The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that any act of sexual assault and harassment against children should be viewed very seriously and all such offences have to be dealt with in a stringent manner as it is a crime against humanity and society.
"Children are precious human resources of our country; they are the country’s future. The hope of tomorrow rests on them. But unfortunately, in our country, a girl child is in a very vulnerable position," a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna said.
"There are different modes of her exploitation. Therefore, the children and more particularly the girl child deserve full protection and need greater care and protection whether in the urban or rural areas," the bench added.
Referring to the enactment of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, the bench said by awarding a suitable punishment commensurate with the offences, a message must be conveyed to the society at large that, if anybody commits sexual assault, harassment or use of children for pornographic purposes, they would be punished suitably.
"Cases of sexual assault or sexual harassment on the children are instances of perverse lust for sex where even innocent children are not spared in pursuit of such debased sexual pleasure," the bench said.
The top court upheld the conviction of Nawabuddin, now 75-year-old, for putting his finger into the private part of a four-year-old child for ‘aggravated penetrative sexual assault’ as per Section 3 of the POCSO Act. The convict was caught when he tried to commit rape upon the child. However, considering the age of the convict, the court reduced his sentence from life imprisonment to 15-year jail.
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(Published 08 February 2022, 15:27 IST)
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