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The Gujarat HC remained in the 20 -year sentence transmitted to Madhav Day Vaghela, a resident of Bhayavadar in the Rajkot district, who had been convicted of raping a 14 -year -old girl.
The Superior Court also questioned the reliability of the victim’s age verification.
In a significant development that has thrown fresh light on a sentence for high profile rape, the Superior Court of Gujarat has maintained the 20 -year sentence delivered to Madhav Day Daya Vaghela, a resident or Bhayavadar Hojajkty had a 14 -year -old girl. The court also granted Vaghela Bail, citing procedural and probative conerns that arose during the appeal.
The original conviction was delivered in February 2025 by the Dhoraji session, where Vaghela was sentenced under provisions of the Child Protection Law of Sexual Crimes (Pocso). The case votes from a complaint filed at the Bhayavadar Police station for the mother -in -law of the child, who alleged that the defendant had assaulted Sexum to the girl, which resulted in her pregnancy.
However, the crucial forensic evidence presented that the investigation indicated that the Vaghela DNA did not coincide with that of the victim or the unborn child. Despite this, the Court of First Instance processed with the conviction, trusting mainly in the testimony of the survivor and circumstantial evidence.
Challenging the verdict, Vaghela transferred to the Superior Court in search of a stay in his sentence. His lawyer, lawyer Rathin Rawal, argued that DNA findings threw substantial doubts about the case of prosecution, particularly with respect to the paternity of the fetus.
Rawal also questioned the reliability of the victim’s declared age, noting that the Prosecutor’s Office did not present a birth certificate and, on the other hand, had been based solely on the school records, which lacked documentation on the source of the date of birth mentioned.
In his interim order, a division bank comprised of Judge ILESH J Vora and Judge Sándep Bhatt expressed a group for the management of the Court of First Instance of the age verification process. The bank indicated that the lower court did not properly examine the origin of the date of birth registered in the school documents and could not evaluate whether the conclusion of evidence, the child’s minor state at the time of the alleged crime.
Consequently, the Court maintained the sentence until an additional notice and ordered that Vaghela be released on bail pending the result of its appeal.
The case reigned dignified around the standards of evidence required for the Bajo Pocso conviction, part in cases where scientific findings are not aligned with testimonial statements. It also raises broader questions about procedural rigor to determine the age of the alleged victims in cases of sexual aggression.
- Location:
Gujarat, India, India