The victim, a minor girl with a 60% mental disability, alleged that her neighbor, Lalla Yadav, sexually abused her.
Madhya Pradesh: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has recently changed the punishment of Lalla Yadav, who was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a mentally underdeveloped minor. His sentence has now been reduced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
A division bench consisting of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Devnarayan Mishra from the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued the judgment. The court considered some mitigating factors, including the fact that the accused is married and has four children to support.
While reducing the sentence, the court said
“Learned trial court has not given any reason for awarding life imprisonment for remainder of life and looking to the fact that appellant is married person, he was going through his youth and at the time of commission of offence, his age was 33 years, he has 4 children and a family to support, some leniency be shown in the matter of sentence.”
The victim, a minor girl with a 60% mental disability, alleged that her neighbor, Lalla Yadav, sexually abused her. Evidence presented in the case included her disability certificate and school records, which confirmed that she was between 14 to 15 years old when the crime took place.
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Forensic reports further confirmed the presence of Yadav’s DNA, including his sperm, on the victim’s vaginal slide, which provided crucial proof against him.
The First Additional Sessions Judge of Shahdol convicted Lalla Yadav under:
- Section 5(k) of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act – which deals with penetrative sexual assault on a child with a mental or physical disability.
- Section 376(2)(L) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) – which pertains to rape under certain aggravating circumstances.
Based on these charges, the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000.
Lalla Yadav challenged the trial court’s decision, claiming that he was innocent. He argued that the trial court had given him a life sentence without explaining the reasons behind such a harsh punishment.
In his appeal, he asked for leniency and pointed out that:
- He was 33 years old at the time of the crime.
- He was married and had four children to support.
- There was a delay in filing the First Information Report (FIR).
After reviewing the case, the High Court ruled that while the conviction under POCSO and IPC was correct and supported by strong evidence, the trial court had not provided enough reasoning to justify a life sentence without parole.
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Thus, considering the circumstances, the High Court decided to reduce his sentence from life imprisonment to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Case Title: Lalla Yadav v State of MP [CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 785 of 2015]
Read Order
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