High court bluntly / Those who misbehave with a child cannot demand mercy by pleading to be a child themselves

The Punjab-Haryana High Court dismissed the appeal against the punishment of the convicts for raping an eight-year-old innocent. During this, the convicts said that they are small children, so sympathy should be shown to them. The High Court said that do not expect mercy from this argument, because if you have mercy, then the POCSO Act will become meaningless.

The case is of Sonipat, where the police had registered a case against the petitioners under the misdemeanor and POCSO Act on the complaint of the father of an eight-year-old child. In this case, the Juvenile Justice Board had convicted the three petitioners on March 2021 and sentenced them. This sentence was appealed to the Sessions Court, but the Sessions Court also rejected the appeal. Thereafter, the petitioners took refuge in the High Court.

The High Court said that if mercy is given to child offences, then the purpose of this Act will not be fulfilled, which will make it meaningless. Along with this, an appeal was made to the High Court for mercy, arguing for the young age of the guilty children.

The High Court said that in this case an 8-year-old child has been brutally raped, which has violated his dignity. All the three petitioners were much older than the victim child. In such a situation, he could not oppose them even if he wanted to.

The convicts who plead for a younger age by doing such an act are not entitled to mercy. With these remarks, the High Court dismissed the petition of the three convicts outright, while stamping the order of the lower court of Sonipat.