Man gets life term for sexual assault, murder of 7yo boy

Meerut: A Pocso court in Lakhimpur Kheri sentenced a 30-year-old man to life in jail for sexual assault and murder of a seven-year-old boy on Jan 31, 2014. Special Judge Ghulam Mustafa also imposed a fine of Rs 1,35,000 on the convict.According to the prosecution, the convict, a graduate, held the victim hostage while he was going to his agricultural field and killed him after sexually assaulting him. "Fearing that he might get caught, the perpetrator strangled the victim to death after the sexual assault and hide the body in a sugarcane field," said special public prosecutor Brijesh Kumar Pandey.A case under IPC Sections 377 (carnal intercourse against the order of nature), 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence) and Sections 5(M)/6 of the Pocso Act was subsequently registered against the convict at Pali police station and the ‘accused' was arrested.The youth used fake documents to falsely claim to be a minor and got bail. "For nearly 10 years, the ‘accused' was considered a minor, and his actual age was revealed before court only in 2024. Based on evidence and witnesses' testimonies, the court convicted him to life imprisonment, along with a fine," said Pandey.While pronouncing the judgment, the court stated: "Doubts would be called reasonable if they are free from zest for abstract speculation. Law cannot afford any favour other than truth. To constitute reasonable doubt, it must be free from an over emotional response. Doubts must be actual and substantial doubts as to the guilt of the accused person arising from the evidence, or from the lack of it, as opposed to mere vague apprehension. A reasonable doubt is imaginary, trivial or a merely possible doubt; but a fair doubt is not based upon reason and common sense. It must grow out of the evidence in the case."