Jalandhar: A sessions court has sentenced two men to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment each in connection with the sexual assault of a 16-year-old boy at a hotel in the city in December 2022. The verdict was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Archana Kamboj after concluding the trial in the case.
The incident took place on the night of December 31, 2022, at Hotel The Days Inn, situated in the Silver Plaza Market on Sodhal Road in Jalandhar. The court found Girish Agarwal, owner of Hammer Fitness Gym and a resident of Kartarpur, guilty of committing the assault. Honey, a gym trainer from Arya Nagar in Kartarpur, was convicted for recording the crime.
Both convicts were also fined ₹52,000 each. The court ordered that failure to pay the fine would result in an additional one year of imprisonment. A third accused, Yogesh Kumar, was acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence.
During the proceedings, the prosecution highlighted that two video clips related to the incident had surfaced on social media on June 20, 2023. One of the clips, lasting 14 seconds, showed the minor lying on a hotel bed in a semi-conscious condition, while another longer video further corroborated the allegations.
Police investigations confirmed that the accused and the minor had stayed at the hotel on the night of the incident. Based on the findings, a case was registered at Police Station-8 under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Information Technology Act.
Following the registration of the case, all three accused were initially sent to jail. Yogesh Kumar was later released on bail, while Girish Agarwal and Honey remained in custody throughout the trial.
The court observed that the offence involved serious abuse of trust and inflicted deep psychological harm on the minor, warranting a stringent punishment under the law.
