The Uttarakhand High Court on September 30 upheld a man's conviction in a child-rape case but reduced his prison sentence from twelve to ten years of rigorous imprisonment. The bench of Justices Ravindra Maithani and Siddhartha Sah retained the ₹10,000 fine and directed him to serve the remaining sentence.
The judgment, reserved on September 23 and delivered a week later, concerns an appeal against a February 2018 trial-court decision arising from a 2017 offence. The new development is the High Court's decision on that appeal, not a newly reported assault.
The defence challenged the delay in registering the complaint and argued that medical and forensic material did not support the prosecution. The State relied on the survivor's account and an eyewitness's evidence. After examining the record, the court found the testimony consistent and reliable, accepted the explanation for the reporting delay and declined to overturn the conviction.
In reducing the sentence, the bench referred to the more than nine years already served. The appeal therefore succeeded only in relation to the length of imprisonment. The order does not amount to immediate unconditional release. The child's identity, family details and medical particulars are withheld from this report.