The Supreme Court has sentenced him to 7 years convicted for touching the private organs of a minor under 12 years of age. In this case, the Chhattisgarh High Court convicted the convict Laxman Jangde for rape, but the Supreme Court refused to accept it as a rape. The court said that the crime without penitative sex (entry of any external object in private organs) cannot be called rape.
Laxman Jangde challenged the decision of the Chhattisgarh High Court on January 28 this year. The High Court gave him Section 376 of the IPC (Ab) That is, a 12 -year -old girl was convicted under rape and Section 6 of the Poxo Act (a minor to penitative sex). Section 6 of the Poxo Act provides for a minimum sentence of 20 years. The High Court sentenced him to 20 years. Earlier in 2022, the lower court also held him guilty in these sections.
Jangde’s lawyer in the Supreme Court said that there is no evidence of penalist sex against him. The state government’s counsel said that the sexual abuse of a girl below 12 years of age should not get any concession. The bench of Supreme Court Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Joymalya Bagchi has passed the order of 7 pages by registering the arguments of both sides and their conclusions.
The Supreme Court has said in its judgment that it has closely seen the facts of the case. The victim has not spoken about penalty sex in any statement. In the statement of FIR, Section 164 and the statement in the court, the victim never said that the convict had a penalist sex with her. Everywhere there has been talk of touching private organs and doing other obscene acts. In such a situation, it cannot come under the definition of rape under Section 375 of IPC.
The Supreme Court has said that the case is of sexual assault on a woman under Section 354 of IPC instead of rape and sexual assault on a minor under Section 10 of Poxo Act. In such a situation, the court has now sentenced Jangde to 5 years under Section 354 of IPC and 7 years under Section 10 of Poxo Act. The court has said that both these punishment will run together.