‘POCSO convict can’t serve parole in victim’s village, city’

In a significant ruling, the Rajasthan High Court on Thursday ordered that a convict under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 cannot serve parole in the same city or village where the victim resides.

In its decision, a division bench of Justice Dinesh Mehta and Justice Rajendra Prakash Soni stated that in cases where the convict and the victim reside in the same city or village, the accused has to serve the parole elsewhere. The court, in its decision, stated that the convict and victim must not come face-to-face as this will remind the victim of the ordeal she wanted to forget. Sahi Ram, who has been sentenced to jail term for raping a three-year-old girl and is serving sentence in Ajmer central jail, had moved the high court challenging the rejection of his first parole application by the District Level Parole Committee, Nagaur.