Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012
Sections 5(m) & 6—Aggravated penetrative sexual assault—High Court altered the conviction of respondent from Section 6 of the POCSO Act to one under Section 4 of the Act—Appeal—When a penal provision uses the phraseology “shall not be less than….”, the Courts cannot do offence to the Section and impose a lesser sentence—Courts are powerless to do that unless there is a specific statutory provision enabling the Court to impose a lesser sentence—Age of victim was less than 12 years at the time of incident—Opinion of High Court that act committed by respondent was not an aggravated penetrative sexual assault—Erroneous—Impugned judgment of High Court is set aside and that of trial court is restored—Appeal allowed.
[Paras 11 & 12]