Special POCSO Court sentences man to 20 years in jail for sexually assaulting minor in Kandivali | Representational Image
Mumbai: The special POCSO court has sentenced a 45-year-old man to twenty years imprisonment for having repeatedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old minor friend of his daughter after luring her with chocolates in December 2018.
The special judge Ashwini Lokhande while holding the man guilty of aggressive sexual assault observed that, “Accused was 45 years old when the offence is committed and victim was 9 years old. He committed the offence by inducing the small girl of 9 years old by giving her chocolates. The small girl was fascinated by the chocolates which were obvious for children of that age. Accused took undue advantage of the innocence of the victim and took her in the house.”
Further the court said that the girl was threatened even after the case was registered with Kandivali police station and till she gave her statement before the magistrate during the investigation.
As per the prosecution case, the case was registered by the mother of the victim on December 10, 2018 claiming that the accused, who is a father of her younger daughter’s friend, had sexually assaulted her twice.
In her complaint the mother claimed that her husband is no more and hence she is staying with her two daughters and brother. She claimed that she goes to work from 11 am to 7:30 pm, meanwhile, her daughters manage their own routine themselves.
It was claimed that since the last few days she noticed that her daughters were very frightened. Hence, she asked the elder daughter. The elder daughter revealed about the sexual assault committed by the accused on the younger one.
She claimed that after the school, when the three girls, victim, her elder sister and daughter of the accused were playing outside the house, the accused gave them chocolates. He took the victim inside his house and asked the other two to continue playing on the ground.
When, the elder daughter confronted the younger one, about what uncle did to her, the girl narrated the sexual assault committed by the accused. The accused repeated the same thing on the next day as well. Thus, the girl was subjected to sexual assault on twice first on December 4, 2018 and against on December 5, 2018.
Later, the accused called the girl and slapped her twice and threatened her to not reveal anything to anyone. Frightened by this, the girl could not say anything to anyone and also could not mention about the sexual assault in her statement to the magistrate court.
Meanwhile, the victim in her testimony which was recorded when she was 14 years old when she testified before the court. In her testimony however, the girl had not revealed the incident of the sexual assault out of the fear, the court noted.
The special judge however, noted that in her testimony the girl said that the accused slapped her and said if she told her family, he would again beat her. “Though victim did not state what exactly was done by the accused with her. She told the connecting fact that the accused slapped her and threatened not to disclose any one, else he would again beat her.”
With this the court concluded that, “The threat and the threatening words itself sufficient to connect the accused with his act. It constrained me to hold that the accused did something wrong with the victim that is why he was preventing her from disclosing the same to her family members.”
