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The Delhi High Court directed the District Legal Services Authority to print and hand over a trial judge’s personal message to a POCSO survivor, according to its order issued on September 22, 2026. Additional Sessions Judge Rajani Ranga wrote the note while imposing a life sentence on the convict in a case from 2023. Justices Prathiba M Singh and Dinesh Bhatt described the words as an encouraging message that must reach the child within two weeks together with financial compensation.
Judge Ranga addressed the girl directly in the letter included in the sentencing order, court records show. “Beta, this Court heard you. When you said Jab tak uncle buddhe na ho jaaye, tab tak unhe jail mein hi rakha jaaye, this Court listened. And this Court has answered your plea,” she wrote. “Today, this Court has ordered that the man you called uncle will never walk free again. He will live in a cage for the rest of his life. He will grow old in that cage. He will die in that cage,” the message continued. The letter also told the child “you are the bravest little girl this Court has ever seen” and urged her to live her life, go to school, make friends, laugh, play and dream while noting the court would remember her courage.
The assault took place in July 2023 when the victim was seven years old, according to the case details heard in the Rohini court. The perpetrator was a man the girl referred to as uncle, and she later testified against him after confiding in her mother. During proceedings the child asked that he remain in jail until he grew old so he could not harm her or her younger sister.
The trial court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment and levied a fine while awarding the survivor Rs 10.50 lakh in compensation, a decision the High Court upheld without modification. The bench instructed that the printed letter and the compensation be provided through official channels to ensure the message reaches the girl. Delhi High Court records from the ruling emphasised that the child’s words had been heard and her plea granted.
National Crime Records Bureau data shows crimes against children rose by 6 percent in 2024 compared with 2023, with 69,191 cases registered under the POCSO Act. An NCRB assessment found that 96.6 percent of penetrative sexual assault cases involved a known person, a pattern consistent with the circumstances in this Delhi matter. The bureau’s figures place the majority of victims as girls, with adolescents between 12 and 18 years forming the largest age groups among those affected.
UNICEF data indicates that one in eight girls globally experiences rape or sexual assault before age 18, with Central and Southern Asia accounting for a substantial share of the total. A UNICEF study based on available country-level information estimated that 73 million girls and women in the region have faced such contact sexual violence in childhood. The organisation’s 2024 estimates, drawn from statistical modelling across multiple nations, underscore the scale of the challenge beyond individual cases.
