No leniency for rapists of minors: Supreme Court

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Posted online: Sunday , February 03, 2008 at 11:42:41
Updated: Sunday , February 03, 2008 at 12:00:00

New Delhi, February 3: The Supreme Court has asserted that the gravity of an offence shall be the sole criteria for imposing punishments on those indulging in heinous offence on innocent helpless girls of tender age.

A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam upheld an appeal filed by the Rajasthan government against a high court order which reduced to seven years, the 10-year RI imposed on Madan Singh by a sessions court for raping a minor girl.

"The measure of punishment in a case of rape cannot depend upon the social status of the victim or the accused. It must depend upon the conduct of the accused, the state and age of the sexually assaulted female and the gravity of the criminal act," the apex court observed.

The apex court recalled that the statutory provision under section 376 (2)(f) IPC ordained a minimum sentence of 10 years which can be reduced only in exceptional and special circumstances.

"The protection of society and deterring the criminal is the avowed object of law and that is required to be achieved by imposing an appropriate sentence," the apex court observed.

The apex court said that sentencing Courts are expected to consider all relevant facts and circumstances bearing on the question of sentence and proceed to impose a sentence commensurate with the gravity of the offence.

"Crimes of violence upon women need to be severely dealt with. The socio-economic status, religion, race, caste or creed of the accused or the victim are irrelevant considerations in sentencing policy," the bench observed.

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Caste of victim by Das on 03 Feb 2008

Hate crimes targeting lower castes, especially dalits are on the rise in India. The caste of the victim should be an important consideration, when the victim is a dalit and the punishment should be more severe if the victim is a dalit.

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Pervert become criminals by Raju on 03 Feb 2008

Three cheers to to court, but the punishment shuld be harsh. In case of minors the accused should proven his innocence and until proven not guilty. Also there is need to give hard look for killinng of girl fetus too. The disparity of man/woman ratio also a major reason for this type of crimes. Also there is need to make prostitution legal in soceity, so excess energy can have way to flow. Indian soceity do give lot of room to create and keep pervertness. When such perverts get opportunity they distroy some innocent child!

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