16-yr RI, lifer for convicts in rape cases
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, December 29 2021: Special Judge POCSO Churachandpur on Wednesday sentenced one Chinminthang (32) of Simbuk village, Churachandpur, who was convicted in the sexual assault case of a 10 -year old girl from Chacha Nehru Bhawan, New Mata, Churachandpur on February 10, 2017 to 16 years rigorous imprisonment under Section 4 of POCSO Act.

During hearing of the case oh Wednesday, the Court, after perusing submissions of Special PP observed that Chinminthang have confessed to have committed the crime, while also observing that the evidences support the charges levelled against him.

As such, the Court convicted Chinminthang under Section 4 of POCSO Act and set the announcement of quantum of punishments to around 2 pm the same day.

Consequently, the Court carried out the sentence hearing, wherein it sentenced Chinminthang to rigorous imprisonment for 16 years and directed him to pay a fine of Rs 25,000.If the fine is not paid, he will have to stay in jail for one more month.

If the fine is paid, it is to be deposited at the Court and then handed over to the victim as compensation.

The time spent in the jail by the convict during the trial of the case will be commuted from the sentence period.

The Court further directed the department concerned to pay Rs 5 lakh to the rape survivor under the Manipur Victim Compensation Scheme, 2019 under Section 33(a) of POCSO Act and Section 357 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

In another ruling, the Fast Track Special Court No 2 Manipur on Wednesday sentenced one Tekcham Bijaraj alias Yaima, who was convicted in a 2015 rape case on December 27, to life imprisonment.

According to the Court order notified on Wednesday, the Special PP of the case said that the convict committed a heinous and barbarous crime.

As the case falls under the rarest of rare cases, the Special PP made a prayer to the Court to award capital punishment to the convict.

However, the defence counsel argued that Bijaraj was only 20 years old when the crime was committed and he has been in judicial custody since 2015.Thus, he prayed to the Court for minimum punishment.

After listening to arguments of both sides, the Court sentenced Bijaraj to life imprisonment under Section 302 of IPC and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 10,000.If he fails to pay the fine, he will have to serve additional jail term for 6 more months.

The Court further sentenced him to 7 years rigorous imprisonment under Section 376 of IPC while ordering him to pay a fine of Rs 5000, failing which he would have to stay in jail for 4 more months.

Both sentences are to be carried out simultaneously, the order stated.

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