The Bombay High Court has reduced punishment for a man convicted of sodomising a 10-month-old girl child, accepting his contention that he lost control over himself as he was living away from his family.

Although the court upheld his conviction under Section 377 of the IPC, it reduced the sentence handed out to Ramkishan Harijan, who worked as a labourer with a brick-trader in Mumbai, from 10 years to seven.

In his judgment, Justice M L Tahaliyani also said that the six years Harijan had already spent in jail be taken into account.

"Trial judge was aware of the fact that the appellant (Harijan) was married and (had) two children and his family was staying in Uttar Pradesh... No doubt, this by itself may not be a reason for lenient sentence. However, had it been considered in the proper perspective, the learned trial court probably would have imposed lesser sentence than 10 years," Justice M L Tahaliyani wrote in his judgment recently.

According to the prosecution, Harijan was a neighbour of the victim, and both lived on Mankhurd-Ghatkopar Link Road. On January 10, 2006, he took the child to a deserted place near her house and sodomised her while her father was away.

The victim's mother came to the spot on hearing the child's cries and claimed to have seen Harijan fleeing. The child was bleeding from her private parts. Harijan was arrested the next day.

On January 1, 2008, a sessions court acquitted Harijan of charges of rape but held him guilty under Section 377 on charges of sodomy.

Arguing against the quantum of sentence awarded to Harijan, his lawyer Arfan Sait said he was poor and "living alone, away from his native place and therefore probably he lost control over himself".

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