PANAJI: The high court has upheld the life imprisonment and fine imposed by a trial court on two accused for kidnapping and abusing a 11-year-old boy with learning disabilities and demanding a ransom of Rs 20 lakh in 2011.
The two accused were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh each in 2017. They appealed to the high court against the conviction in 2018. The court found that the boy’s testimony, with details of the events that transpired, inspired confidence and was sufficient to bring home the charges against the two.
The court noted that additional public prosecutor Pravin Faldessai proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.
The case pertains to 2011, when the two men entered into a conspiracy and kidnapped the minor boy with learning difficulties in the afternoon from outside the gate of his school. They then called his father and uncle demanding a ransom of Rs 20 lakh, failing which they threatened to kill the boy. They then drove the boy away in a van, before he was rescued by police.
Underscoring the need to maintain the privacy of the victim, the court directed the registry to transmit all the records back to the children’s court so that the boy’s identity, which appears in various records, be protected.
The court found that in several places, there was reference to the victim’s name. “This is to be avoided at all costs,” the division bench comprising justices Mahesh Sonak and M S Jawalkar stated in their judgment on Friday.
They added that the Goa Children’s Act, 2003, which deals with the procedure before the children’s court, specifically provides that the children’s court abides by the principle of right to privacy and confidentiality of the minor child, and that these be protected by all means and through all stages of the proceedings.
“Therefore, we direct that the name of the minor child in the records shall be masked, no doubt, by maintaining the records regarding the identity of the minor child in sealed cover,” the high court stated.
The two accused were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh each in 2017. They appealed to the high court against the conviction in 2018. The court found that the boy’s testimony, with details of the events that transpired, inspired confidence and was sufficient to bring home the charges against the two.
The court noted that additional public prosecutor Pravin Faldessai proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.
The case pertains to 2011, when the two men entered into a conspiracy and kidnapped the minor boy with learning difficulties in the afternoon from outside the gate of his school. They then called his father and uncle demanding a ransom of Rs 20 lakh, failing which they threatened to kill the boy. They then drove the boy away in a van, before he was rescued by police.
Underscoring the need to maintain the privacy of the victim, the court directed the registry to transmit all the records back to the children’s court so that the boy’s identity, which appears in various records, be protected.
The court found that in several places, there was reference to the victim’s name. “This is to be avoided at all costs,” the division bench comprising justices Mahesh Sonak and M S Jawalkar stated in their judgment on Friday.
They added that the Goa Children’s Act, 2003, which deals with the procedure before the children’s court, specifically provides that the children’s court abides by the principle of right to privacy and confidentiality of the minor child, and that these be protected by all means and through all stages of the proceedings.
“Therefore, we direct that the name of the minor child in the records shall be masked, no doubt, by maintaining the records regarding the identity of the minor child in sealed cover,” the high court stated.
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