Court reduces sentence, fine of daily wager accused of assaulting school boy

Panaji: Holding that the sentence of one-year imprisonment and fine of Rs 1 lakh imposed on a daily wage worker for assaulting a nine-year-old school boy in 2013 was“harsh”, the high court of Bombay at Goa has reduced the sentence to 15 days and the fine amount to Rs 15,000.
“To my mind the sentences awarded against the accused are on the harsh side and therefore, only on that count, discretion can be exercised,” the high court stated.
It was the case of the prosecution that the accused, who was the father of the victim’s classmate, assaulted him with the school bag of his son, insulted him using filthy language and threatened him at a school in Bardez in February 2013.
“From the material on record and the findings of the trial court, one thing is clear that the charges levelled against the accused stand proved beyond all reasonable doubts. The deposition of the victim is cogent and convincing. There is no material to disbelieve the testimony of the victim. Injuries sustained by him are corroborated by the medical certificate as well as by the deposition of prosecution witness number two,” the high court stated.
It, however, added that considering that the offence took place in 2013, and that the accused is a daily wage worker, “imposition of the sentence awarded by the trial court is certainly detrimental to his family members as they are fully dependent on the income of the accused.”
The court stated that it is a well settled proposition of law that the sentence of imprisonment as well as imposition of fine must be proportionate to the alleged offence which stands proved during evidence.
“Thus, the imprisonment could be even for a few days considering the gravity of the offence. In such circumstances, imposing a fine of 1 lakh, and that too when it is clear that the accused is a daily wage earner, would be certainly harsh and no purpose would be served by imposing such a fine,” justice Bharat P Deshpande stated.
“The main purpose of imposing a fine is to compensate the victim. Therefore, looking at the gravity of the offence, like the one in hand, imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh would certainly be very harsh. Such cannot be considered as an intent of the legislature. Such fine could be imposed in case of serious offences such as sexual assault being a part and parcel of Section 8(2) of the Goa Children’s Act,” the court added.