Rupendra Kumar Vaishnaw S/o Shri Chandan Das Vaishnaw Aged About 20 Years R/o Village v. State Of Chhattisgarh Through District Magistrate, Balod, District Balod
Case Details
1 2025:CGHC:4436-DB NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 2096 of 2023 Rupendra Kumar Vaishnaw S/o Shri Chandan Das Vaishnaw Aged About 20 Years R/o Village Faradfod, P.S. Devri, District Balod (C.G.) ... Appellant(s) versus State Of Chhattisgarh Through District Magistrate, Balod, District Balod (C.G.) ... Respondent(s) For Appellant(s) : Mr. Dheerendra Pandey, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Mr. Malay Jain, Panel Lawyer Hon'ble Shri Ramesh Sinha, S hri Ravindra Kumar Agrawal Chief Justice , Judge Hon'ble Judgment on Board Per Ramesh Sinha , Chief Justice 24.01.2025 1. This criminal appeal under Section 374(2) of the CrPC is directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 26.08.2023 passed by the learned Special Judge RAHUL DEWANGAN Digitally signed by RAHUL DEWANGAN Date: 2025.02.06 10:40:31 +0530 (Under POCSO Act) Balod, District- Balod (C.G.) in Special Criminal Case (POCSO) No.36/2021, by which the appellant herein has been convicted for offence under Section 4(2) of the 2 POCSO Act and sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for 20 years and fine of Rs.3000/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo S.I. for 01 year. 2. Notice issued to PW-3 i.e. mother of the victim has been served, but none appeared on her behalf to contest the present appeal. 3. The prosecution story, in brief, is that the victim's mother appeared at the police station- Deori on 07.04.2021 and lodged a written report that at 09:00 AM, she had gone with her husband to Ghasneen Bai's farm to thresh wheat, when she came home to leave the rope from the farm at 11-12 noon, she saw that her neighbor boy Rupendra Vaishnav came out of the room, pulling up his pants and wearing it, and ran away after seeing her. When she went inside the house, her daughter victim was sitting in a corner inside the room and crying loudly. When she asked her daughter / victim, she told that she was playing outside her house, then Rupendra Vaishnav came to her and caught her and brought her inside the room and after closing the door, he took away the panty (chaddi) she was wearing. He pulled down his underwear till his knees and made me lie on the ground, then Roopendra Vaishnav pulled down his underwear (chadda) till his knees and came over me and did wrong things to me, she was crying due to pain but still he was doing wrong things with her. On being told by her daughter, the informant / mother of the victim went to her husband in farm and told him about the incident, then she along 3 with her daughter / victim and other persons went to the police station to lodged a report. On the basis of the above written report of the applicant, Crime No.46/2021 under Section -363, 366 (A) of the IPC was registered against the accused in Police Station- Deori. A crime under sections 342, 376(a)(b), Indian Penal Code and sections 4 and 5/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual
Facts
Offences Act 2012 was registered and a First Information Report was lodged and the investigation was taken up. 4. On the same date, when notice (Ex.P-2) was given to the mother of the victim for presenting the underwear worn by the victim at the time of the incident under Section 91 Cr.P.C., the underwear of the victim was produced by the mother of the victim, which was seized in front of witnesses and seizure memo (Ex.P-3) was prepared. On the same date, the complaint (Ex.P-4 and Ex.P-5) was written to the lady doctor of Community Health Center, Dondilohara, for examination of the private parts of the victim and her underwear and the statement of the victim and her mother was recorded as per their instructions. Inspector Naveen Kumar Borkar (PW-9), on 07.04.2021, while posted as Inspector/Police Station In-charge at Police Station Devri, during the investigation of the case, went to the victim's house at the place of incident and prepared the spot map of the place of incident (Ex.P.-6) and on the same date, he gave notice (Ex.P-19) to the victim's father for presenting the victim's caste certificate and on the same date, he was given notice under Section 91 Cr.P.C. to produce the 4 underwear worn by the accused at the time of the incident (Ex.P.- 23) on which when the accused presented his underwear, the underwear was seized and seizure memo (Ex.P.-12) was prepared. During the investigation, on 07.04.2021, when
Legal Reasoning
assault and/or sexual abuse. In our view, exploitation of children in such a manner is a crime against humanity and the society. 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. As observed and held by this Court in the case of State of Rajasthan v. Om Prakash, (2002) 5 SCC 745, children need special care and protection and, in such cases, responsibility on the shoulders of the Courts is more onerous so as to provide proper legal protection to these children. In the case of Nipun Saxena v. Union of India, (2019) 2 18 SCC 703, it is observed by this Court that a minor who is subjected to sexual abuse needs to be protected even more than a major victim because a major victim being an adult may still be able to withstand the social ostracization and mental harassment meted out by society, but a minor victim will find it difficult to do so. Most crimes against minor victims are not even reported as very often, the perpetrator of the crime is a member of the family of the victim or a close friend. Therefore, the child needs extra protection. Therefore, no leniency can be shown to an accused who has committed the offences under the POCSO Act, 2012 and particularly when the same is proved by adequate evidence before a court of law.” 30. When considering the evidence of a victim subjected to a sexual offence, the Court does not necessarily demand an almost accurate account of the incident. Instead, the emphasis is on allowing the victim to provide her version based on her recollection of events, to the extent reasonably possible for her to recollect. If the Court deems such evidence credible and free from doubt, there is hardly any insistence on corroboration of that version. In State of H.P. v. Shree Kant Shekar (2004) 8 SCC 153 the Hon‟ble Supreme Court held as follows:“ “21. It is well settled that a prosecutrix complaining of having been a victim of the offence of rape is not an accomplice after the crime. There is no rule of law that her testimony cannot be acted without corroboration in material particulars. She stands on a higher pedestal than an injured witness. In the latter case, there is 19 injury on the physical form, while in the former it is physical as well as psychological and emotional. However, if the court on facts finds it difficult to accept the version of the prosecutrix on its face value, it may search for evidence, direct or circumstantial, which would lend assurance to her testimony. Assurance, short of corroboration, as understood in the context of an accomplice, would suffice.” 31. On these lines, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Shivasharanappa and Others v. State of Karnataka, (2013) 5 SCC 705 observed as follows: “17. Thus, it is well settled in law that the court can rely upon the testimony of a child witness and it can form the basis of conviction if the same is credible, truthful and is corroborated by other evidence brought on record. Needless to say as a rule of prudence, the court thinks it desirable to see the corroboration from other reliable evidence placed on record. The principles that apply for placing reliance on the solitary statement of the witness, namely, that the statement is true and correct and is of quality and cannot be discarded solely on the ground of lack of corroboration, apply to a child witness who is competent and whose version is reliable.” 32. The Supreme court in the matter of State of UP v. Sonu Kushwaha, (2023) 7 SCC 475 has held as under : 20 “12. The POCSO Act was enacted to provide more stringent punishments for the offences of child abuse of various kinds and that is why minimum punishments have been prescribed in Sections 4, 6, 8 and 10 of the POCSO Act for various categories of sexual assaults on children. Hence, Section 6,on its plain language, leaves no discretion to the Court and there is no option but to impose the minimum sentence as done by the Trial Court. When a penal provision uses the phraseology “shall not be less than….”, the Courts cannot do offence to the Section and impose a lesser sentence. The Courts are powerless to do that unless there is a specific statutory provision enabling the Court to impose a lesser sentence. However, we find no such provision in the POCSO Act. Therefore, notwithstanding the fact that the respondent may have moved ahead in life after undergoing the sentence as modified by the High Court, there is no question of showing any leniency to him. Apart from the fact that the law provides for a minimum sentence, the crime committed by the respondent is very gruesome which calls for very stringent punishment. The impact of the obnoxious act on the mind of the victim/child will be lifelong. The impact is bound to adversely affect the healthy growth of the victim. There is no dispute that the age of the victim was less than twelve years at the time of the incident. Therefore, we have no option but to set aside the impugned judgment of the High Court and restore the judgment of the Trial Court.” 33. On the basis of analysis of evidence presented by the prosecution, it is evident that at the time of the incident, the victim was only 09 years 09 months 3 days, i.e. the victim was less than 21 10 years of age on the date of incident 07.04.2021. It is proved that the victim is a girl child and that the accused, knowing that the victim was a girl child below 12 years of age at the time of the incident, committed the crime of rape, forcible penetration, sexual assault and rape on the girl/victim below 12 years of age. Thus, the said crime of rape, penetrative sexual assault on a minor girl below 12 years of age by the accused falls under the category of aggravated penetrative sexual assault. 34. Lastly, considering the statement of the prosecutrix (PW-1) who has specifically stated the act of the present appellant, statement of her mother (PW-3), statement of medical officer Dr. Sujata, that on the date of incident, 07.04.2021, the victim's hymen was found to be red and on the irrefutable evidence of Dr. Neeraj Bhusakhre, the accused was found to be fully capable of establishing physical relations on the date of incident and on the irrefutable evidence of the site map of the incident given by Patwari Tejprakash Sahu, the site of incident was the victim's house in village Fardafod, the material available on record and the principle of law laid down by the Supreme Court in the above-stated judgments, we are of the considered opinion that the learned Special Judge has rightly convicted the appellant for offence under under Section 4(2) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. We do not find any illegality and irregularity in the findings recorded by the trial Court. 22 35. In the result, this Court comes to the conclusion that the prosecution has succeeded in proving its case beyond all reasonable doubts against the appellant. The conviction and sentence as awarded by the trial court to the appellant is hereby upheld. The present criminal appeal lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed. 36. It is stated at the Bar that the appellant is in jail. He shall serve out the sentence as ordered by the trial Court. 37. Registry is directed to send a copy of this judgment to the concerned Superintendent of Jail where the Appellant is undergoing the jail term, to serve the same on the Appellant informing him that he is at liberty to assail the present judgment passed by this Court by preferring an appeal before the Hon’ble Supreme Court with the assistance of High Court Legal Services Committee or the Supreme Court Legal Services Committee. Sd/- Sd/- (Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) (Ramesh Sinha) Chief Justice Judge Rahul Dewangan
Arguments
presented by lady constable Ms. Tikeshwari Uike, the vaginal slide of the victim was seized and seizure memo (Ex.P.-18) was prepared and on 14.04.2021, the statement of the victim's father and witnesses Keshuram Bhuarya, Ankleheen Bai, Narendra Kumar, Hemant Bhuarya was recorded as per their statement, on 08.04.2021, in the case of crime No. 46/2021 of Police Station Deori, a memorandum (Ex.P.-17) was given to the Tehsildar Deori for preparing a site map through the Halka Patwari and on 05.05.2021. When the victim's mother presented the caste certificate regarding the victim's caste, seizure memo (Ex.P.-11) was prepared and the seized exhibits in the case were sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Raipur through the Superintendent of Police, Balod. 5. During the investigation, when the accused was found to have committed the crime, the Deori police station presented a charge- sheet under sections 363, 366 (A), 342, 376 (a, b) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 4 and 5/6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 and section 3 (a) (f, a) of the Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the court for trial on 18.05.2021. 6. When the charge sheet was read out against the accused by the 5 former Presiding Officer under Sections 363, 366, 376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 3/4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Section 3 (2) (a-f) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the accused denied having committed the crime and requested for trial. 7. In order to establish the charge against the appellant, the prosecution examined as many as 10 witnesses and exhibited the documents (Exs.P-1 to P-28). When the accused was admitted in defence under section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, the accused, while expressing his desire not to tender defence evidence in his defence, stated that he had an argument with the father of the victim while the father of the victim was constructing a house due to which he has been falsely implicated and he is innocent. After appreciation of evidence available on record, the learned trial Court has convicted the accused/appellant and sentenced him as mentioned in para 1 of the judgment. Hence, this appeal. 8. Mr. Dheerendra Pandey, learned counsel for the appellant submits that the impugned judgment, conviction and sentence dated 26.08.2023 awarded by the Trial Court is bad in law, perverse, thus liable to be set aside. The F.I.R. has not been proved by the prosecutrix and her parents themselves. There are 6 contradictions and omissions in the testimony of the prosecutrix in respect to allegations made in the F.I.R. The medical report does not corroborate the version of the prosecutrix and as per the statement and report given by the (P.W.06) Dr. Sujata, it is not sure that the sexual intercourse has taken place with the prosecutrix. The age of the prosecutrix has also not been proved hence the case U/s. 4(2) of the Protection of Children from Sexual offences Act, 2012 is not made out against the appellant. Further, the learned trial court has erred in holding that the prosecutrix (P.W.1) is less than 18 years of age on the date of incident, the court below ought to have consider that the mother and father of the prosecutrix have not proved the aged of the prosecutrix to be less than 18 years of age. Lastly, the trial court has not appreciated the evidence on record properly and came into erroneous conclusion while passing the judgment of conviction which is liable to be set aside. 9. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State opposes the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant and submits that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and the prosecutrix (PW-1) has clearly deposed the conduct of the appellant in her statement and in the Court statement and the learned trial Court after considering the material available on record has rightly convicted and sentenced the appellant, in which no interference is called for. 7 10. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record with utmost circumspection. 11. The issue that arises for consideration in the present appeal is whether the testimony of the victim/prosecutrix deserves acceptance and whether the prosecution has established the case of the appellant beyond reasonable doubt. 12. It is pertinent to observe that the question whether conviction of the accused can be based on the sole testimony of the victim in cases of sexual assault/rape is no longer res integra. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has dealt with the issue in a catena of judgments and has held that the sole testimony of the prosecutrix if found reliable can be the sole ground for convicting the accused and that the creditworthy testimony of the victim in cases of such nature deserves acceptance. 13. The next issue that arises for consideration in the present appeal is whether the age of the victim on the date of commission of the offence concerned, was below 18 years of age. 14. Regarding the age of the victim, the victim herself (PW-1) has stated in her evidence that her grandfather, mother-father, brothers and sisters live in her house, she studies in class 5th, her date of birth is 4th July, she is 10 years old. 15. The mother of the victim (PW-3) has stated in her evidence that she knows the accused Rupendra Kumar Vaishnav who is a 8 resident of her village, he has a daughter and a son in which the victim is the elder daughter whose date of birth is 04.07.2011. The police had given her notice (Ex.P-9) to produce birth certificate regarding the age of the victim, then she had produced a certified copy of the birth certificate of the victim which was seized by the police and seizure memo (Ex.P-11), the original birth certificate is marked as Article-A and the photocopy as Article-A-C. 16. Naveen Kumar Borkar (PW-09) - Inspector, while supporting the statements of the victim and her mother, has stated that during the investigation of the case, on 07.04.2021, notice (Ex.P.-9) was given to the mother of the victim to produce the birth certificate regarding the age of the victim. On 05.05.2021, when the victim's mother produced the birth certificate of the victim, it was seized in front of witnesses and seizure sheet (Ex.P-11) was prepared. The statement of the Investigation Officer is fully supported by the statement of the victim and her mother. 17. As per seizure memo (Ex.P.-11), the date of birth of the victim is mentioned as 04.07.2011 in the birth certificate of the victim and the said document is a document issued by the Chhattisgarh Government which is a relevant document regarding the date of birth of the victim, on which there is no sufficient reason to doubt and the incident is of 07.04.2021, due to which the age of the victim (PW-1) on the date of incident 07.04.2021 was 09 years 09 months 3 days, i.e., the victim was less than 10 years of age on 9 the date of incident 07.04.2021, due to which, on the date of incident 07.04.2021, from the irrefutable documentary evidence presented by the prosecution, it is proved that the victim was a child under Section 2 (d) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. 18. The defence has not challenged the oral and documentary evidence produced by the prosecution in cross-examination and in the statement recorded under section 313 regarding the date of birth of the victim as 04.07.2011. Thus, in the present case, the birth certificate of the victim [Article A(C)] has been certified by the prosecution. 19. On the basis of oral and documentary evidence presented, the date of birth of the victim is proved to be 04.07.2011, according to the prosecution story, the date of incident is 07.04.2021. Therefore, at the time of the incident, the victim was a minor girl, 09 years 09 months 3 days, i.e., the victim was less than 10 years of age, as proved by the prosecution evidence. 20. Now, next question for consideration is whether the appellant committed rape with the prosecutrix / victim girl was a minor girl less than 10 years of age on the date of incident. 21. Further, upon perusal of the testimony made by the victim (PW-1) in her statement, it is observed that she gave evidence in the form of question and answer to her. When she was asked questions, told that she studies in Class V and lives with her parents, siblings 10 and grandfather and her teacher’s name is Devangan Sir, which proves the fact that though the prosecutrix was below the age of 12 year, but she understands the questions and answers them truthfully. She further stated that on the date of incident, her parents had gone to the byra (field) to thresh wheat and she was playing alone near her old house. No one was at home at that time. At that time, the accused came and "took her to her concrete house and inserted his pee place into her pee place." When her mother came home to release the rope, the accused fled from there. She informed her mother about the incident. The police got her medically examined. 22. It is self-evident from the evidence of the victim girl that the accused did not take the victim from her house and the incident was committed with her by the accused / appellant in the house of the victim itself and the mother of the victim (PW-3) has stated in her evidence that on the date of the incident, she had gone to thresh wheat and when she returned to her house at about 11-12 o'clock to leave the rope, the victim was crying inside the house. The accused, seeing her, started running while wearing his chaddi (underwear) and pant and before she could ask anything to the accused, he fled. When she questioned the victim about the incident, the victim told that the accused had climbed upon her and after removing his and her underwear, the accused had done wrong things with her. Later, when she looked at the private place of the victim, a red mark was visible, then she gave a written 11 complaint against the accused at Devri police station and on the basis of her written complaint the police registered the First Information Report (Ex.P-1) against the accused / appellant. 23. Being the mother of the victim, she is a witness with interests of the victim, and not an eyewitness. However, the said witness had directly seen the accused with the victim at the time of the incident and had also directly seen the accused wearing his chaddi and pants and running away. Hence, the said witness, despite not being an eyewitness to the incident, has stated having seen the accused with the victim at the time of the incident and she came to know of the fact after the victim told her that the accused "took the victim to her pucca house and inserted his pee-pee place into her pee-pee place." Due to which, there is similarity in the statements of the victim and her mother. 24. Narendra Kumar Thakur (PW-4), independent witness has clearly stated in his evidence that on the date of incident the mother of the victim had told him that the accused had misbehaved with the victim, then he came to know about the incident, the police seized the underwear of the accused in front of him and prepared seizure memo (Ex.P.-12) and when the victim's mother presented the undergarment of the victim worn at the time of the incident, the police seized the undergarment and prepared seizure sheet (Ex.P.-3). 25. Now coming to the medical evidence adduced; Medical witness , 12 Dr. Sujata (PW-6) is that on 07.04.2021, the victim was brought before her by lady constable Tikeshwari of police station Devri at 6:15 p.m. for examination of her private parts. She conducted internal and external examination of the victim and gave the examination report of (Ex.P.-15) according to which on external examination of the victim, it was found that there was no injury or scratch mark on the external part of the victim's body, the secondary sexual characteristics of the victim were not fully developed and on internal examination, it was found that the victim's hymen was intact and redness was present around the hymen but there was no injury, scratch mark and inflammation or bleeding in the internal parts and two slides of the victim's vagina were prepared and the victim's pubic hair was sealed for chemical examination and handed over to the same lady constable. The said witness has given her opinion that according to her, the hymen of the victim was intact and there was redness around the hymen but without the FSL report no definite opinion has been given regarding the immediate sexual intercourse with the victim. The underwear of the victim was sealed and brought to her for examination by the investigating officer. After examining the underwear, she gave the investigation report of (Ex.P.-16), according to which there was a stain-like mark in the middle portion of the underwear of the victim, for chemical examination of its authenticity, the underwear was sealed and handed over to the 13 same woman constable. From the irrefutable evidence of the said investigating officer, it is proved that the hymen of the victim was intact on incident date 07.04.2021, but the presence of redness around the hymen of the victim proves the fact that some extent of injury was caused to the vagina of the victim. 26. Dr. Neeraj Bhusakhre (PW-5) stated that on 07.04.2021 at CHC. during his posting as Medical Officer in Deori, accused Rupesh Vaishnav was brought to him by constable Thaneshwar Shrivas of Thana-Dundilohara for examination of his private parts and the examination report was given as (Ex.P.-13), according to which there were no injury or scratch marks on the internal and external part of the accused and on internal examination it was found that the size of the penis of the accused was normal and the right testis was absent and according to him the accused was fully capable of establishing physical relations and on the same date the same constable sealed the underwear of the accused and presented it before him for examination and after examining the underwear he gave the report of (Ex.P.-14), according to which there was a mark of stain in the middle part of the underwear, which was sealed and handed over to the same constable for chemical examination to know the authenticity of the underwear. He has stated that he was fully capable of establishing physical relations, which could not be refuted by the accused and in this regard no substantial contradictory statement has come to light in the cross-examination of the witness, which proves that the 14 accused was fully capable of establishing physical relations on the date of the incident. 27. The Supreme Court in the matter of Rai Sandeep @ Deenu v. State of NCT of Delhi, 2012 (8) SCC 21 held as under:- “22. In our considered opinion, the ‘sterling witness’ should be of a very high quality and caliber whose version should, therefore, be unassailable. The Court considering the version of such witness should be in a position to accept it for its face value without any hesitation. To test the quality of such a witness, the status of the witness would be immaterial and what would be relevant is the truthfulness of the statement made by such a witness. What would be more relevant would be the consistency of the statement right from the starting point till the end, namely, at the time when the witness makes the initial statement and ultimately before the Court. It should be natural and consistent with the case of the prosecution qua the accused. There should not be any prevarication in the version of such a witness. The witness should be in a position to withstand the cross-examination of any length and howsoever strenuous it may be and under no circumstance should give room for any doubt as to the factum of the occurrence, the persons involved, as well as, the sequence of it. Such a version should have co-relation with each and everyone of other supporting material such as the recoveries made, the weapons used, the manner of offence committed, the scientific evidence and the expert opinion. The said version should consistently match with the version of every other witness. It can even be stated that it 15 should be akin to the test applied in the case of circumstantial evidence where there should not be any missing link in the chain of circumstances to hold the accused guilty of the offence alleged against him. Only if the version of such a witness qualifies the above test as well as all other similar such tests to be applied, it can be held that such a witness can be called as a ‘sterling witness’ whose version can be accepted by the Court without any corroboration and based on which the guilty can be punished. To be more precise, the version of the said witness on the core spectrum of the crime should remain intact while all other attendant materials, namely, oral, documentary and material objects should match the said version in material particulars in order to enable the Court trying the offence to rely on the core version to sieve the other supporting materials for holding the offender guilty of the charge alleged.” 28. In the matter of Alakh Alok Srivastava v. Union of India & Ors., (2018) 17 SCC 291, in paras 14 and 20, it is observed as under: “14. At the very outset, it has to be stated with authority that the Pocso Act is a gender legislation. This Act has been divided into various chapters and parts therein. Chapter II of the Act titled “Sexual Offences Against Children” is segregated into five parts. Part A of the said Chapter contains two sections, namely, Section 3 and Section 4. Section 3 defines the offence of “Penetrative Sexual Assault” whereas Section 4 lays down the punishment for the said offence. Likewise, Part B of the said Chapter titled “Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault and Punishment therefor” contains two sections, namely, Section 5 and Section 16 6. The various subsections of Section 5 copiously deal with various situations, circumstances and categories of persons where the offence of penetrative sexual assault would take the character of the offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault. Section 5(k), in particular, while laying emphasis on the mental stability of a child stipulates that where an offender commits penetrative sexual assault on a child, by taking advantage of the child's mental or physical disability, it shall amount to an offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault.” “20. Speaking about the child, a three Judge Bench in M.C. Mehta v. State of T.N. (1996) 6 SCC 756 “1. … “child is the father of man”. To enable fathering of a valiant and vibrant man, the child must be groomed well in the formative years of his life. He must receive education, acquire knowledge of man and materials and blossom in such an atmosphere that on reaching age, he is found to be a man with a mission, a man who matters so far as the society is concerned.” 29. The Supreme Court in the matter of Nawabuddin v. State of Uttarakhand (CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.144 OF 2022), decided on 8.2.2022 has held as under:- “10. Keeping in mind the aforesaid objects and to achieve what has been provided under Article 15 and 39 of the Constitution to protect children from the offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment, the POCSO Act, 2012 has been enacted. Any act of sexual assault or sexual harassment to the children should be 17 viewed very seriously and all such offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment on the children have to be dealt with in a stringent manner and no leniency should be shown to a person who has committed the offence under the POCSO Act. By awarding a suitable punishment commensurate with the act of sexual assault, sexual harassment, a message must be conveyed to the society at large that, if anybody commits any offence under the POCSO Act of sexual assault, sexual harassment or use of children for pornographic purposes they shall be punished suitably and no leniency shall be shown to them. 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. 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. There are different modes of her exploitation, including sexual