EMPEROR Vs. MOTHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A boy who has been found by the learned Additional Sessions Judge of Aligarh to be in his estimate not more than 15 years of age, has been convicted of rape under Section 376, I.P.C. There can be no question but that the offence was committed in the most brutal manner on a little girl, some 10 years of age. Very grievous injuries were inflicted upon her and they were inflicted upon her by the accused when she was in the employ of the accused's father and he therefore was to some extent in a trusted position. The learned Judge thought that the boy's age precluded the desirability of sending him to jail. He could have, however, sentenced him to imprisonment and then sent him to a reformatory school. His reason for considering it undesirable to send him to a reformatory school, he expresses as follows; The question of sending him to reformatory school is also undesirable because he is the son of an agriculturist and he will learn more by ploughing in his field than by remaining in any reformatory school.

(2.) The reason appears to us wholly inadequate. It might just as well be said that the son of any other man employed out of doors or indeed, the son of many types of artizan would get more good by learning his father's trade than he would by going to a reformatory school. The learned Judge, having rejected the idea of imprisonment and the idea of a reformatory school, then considered whether the boy should be whipped. In the Civil Surgeon's view the boy could not undergo whipping in the ordinary way, so he was ordered to receive a caning in jail of 20 blows on his hand. The learned Judge also remarks: No doubt the girl has suffered much and the learned Counsel who appeared for the accused was good enough to tell the accused's father to pay Rs. 30 to the girl's father and the money has been paid in my presence to the girl's father.

(3.) Here again the learned Judge does not appear to have exercised a well- balanced judgment. The fact that the accused's father was willing to pay Rs. 30 to the girl's father is absolutely no reason whatsoever for letting off the guilty son lightly. Neither would the accused be sufferer by such a procedure nor would the girl benefit.