Mumbai: Man gets 1-month-jail for stalking schoolgirl

A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Thursday sentenced a 28-year-old driver to a month of simple imprisonment for stalking a schoolgirl and asking her to marry him. He had threatened her that he will tell they are having an affair if she does not consent.

The accused was the driver of a man who resided in the building of the victim. As per the complaint lodged by the mother of the girl, he had been following her daughter for around a month when she was going to school. One day, he had obstructed her when she was coming home from tuition class and told her that she should marry him and he would not let her marry anyone else. He threatened to tell everyone that they were having an affair.

The man had been in jail for over a month in 2016-17 after his arrest in the offence. His advocate had requested leniency for him and said that he is a poor man. The court had considered the submissions, but also reasoned that the victim was a 15-year-old studying in class 10 at the time and the accused a matured young man who had caused sexual harassment to her. It had held him guilty of sexual harassment as he had told the minor that she must marry him, or he would forcibly make her elope.

Extra Joint Special Judge under POCSO Act Anis AJ Khan ordered the man to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000. The man had been in jail for 42 days after his arrest and before he was released on bail. The sentence of a month will be adjusted with this period.