NEW DELHI: A man, who repeatedly committed unnatural sex with a 14-year-old "mentally weak" boy, has been sent to 10 years in jail by a Delhi court which relied on the testimony of the child.
Additional Sessions Judge A K Sarpal also directed the Delhi Legal Service Authority to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the victim for the mental torture suffered by him due to repeated offence committed by the man.
The court awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment to Delhi resident Dinesh, 30, who was running a barber shop, after holding him guilty for the offence under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Regarding the leniency plea of the man, who is in custody for last three years, the court said even if a lenient view is taken, it has no option to reduce the jail term from minimum of 10 years.
The court said that during the recording of statement of the victim with the help of a support person, it was found that he was taking time to recollect facts, "from which the weakness of his mind can be presumed". However, his testimony was trustworthy, it said.
"It is also established by the prosecution through trustworthy testimony of victim that the accused had committed penetrative sexual assault upon him repeatedly and several times," the court said.
A complaint was lodged by the victim's father at Krishna Nagar police station in east Delhi on May 13, 2014, alleging that his son, who was "mentally weak", was sexually assaulted by Dinesh who had committed the crime several times.
The child had told his father that the man had threatened him not to disclose the incident to anyone and he also took his father to the shop of the accused identifying him as the perpetrator.
During the trial, the man claimed that he was falsely implicated because the child, who had come to his shop for a hair cut twice, had committed some mischief to which he had objected.
The accused tried to plead insanity to escape punishment but failed.