Mumbai: Man Gets 10 Years In Jail For Raping, Blackmailing Minor

A special POCSO court has sentenced a 28-year-old man, suffering from HIV, to 10 years imprisonment for repeatedly sexually assaulting a minor and later forcing her to elope with him.

As per the prosecution, the victim was studying in the first year of junior college at the time of the serious crime. On July 20, 2018, she left the house without informing her family. Suspecting that the convict might have lured the girl to elope with him, her kin checked with his brother who ran a phone repairing shop nearby their residence. Finally, they lodged a kidnapping case at the Charkop police station. 

A week later, the convict's family told the girl's kin that the duo was at their relatives' house in Udaipur. Subsequently, the police reached there and arrested the man, while rescuing the minor. In her testimony, the victim said that the convict had been stalking her for two years before the incident. He forced her to keep a relationship with him and even gave her a mobile phone to keep in touch.

On April 15, 2018, the accused called her to open the door and then raped her. He repeated the abhorrent act twice; on April 18 and 19, the girl said. Later, he started to blackmail her and again sexually assaulted her. He forced her to elope with him, threatening to disclose the 'sexual encounters' between them to her family.

The girl further said that he took her to the Kurla station from where they boarded a Gorakhpur train. After reaching Basti in Uttar Pradesh, the convict took her to Nepal. Following a 'tip-off' from his family, the cops nabbed the man and his brother when they came to Udaipur.

While pronouncing the man guilty, the special court relied on the testimony of the victim, which was corroborated by the medical evidence. It also noted the fact the minor was found with the convict.