Mumbai: Man gets 10-yr prison for sexual assault on minor neighbour

Mumbai: A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) has sentenced a 25-year-old man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for the “heinous and serious act” of sexually assaulting a six-year-old next door neighbour by luring her with mangoes. 

On May 30, 2018, the child was playing in the afternoon, when the man told her to come to his home for mangoes. The child let him carry her to his home. Appearing before the court during the trial, she narrated how he closed the door and sexually assaulted her. She said she wanted to leave but he told her to be quiet about the incident or he would cut her throat.

The child did not reveal the ordeal due to his fear, until after dinner when her father was at home. Prosecutor VD More said that the following day, her father took her to the neighbour’s home where he lived with three other men and she had pointed out who the man was among them. The man has a physical disability and was thus easy for the child to identify. Thereafter, a police complaint was lodged. 

Special Judge Priti Kumar (Ghule) said in the judgment of Dec 1, while deciding the quantum of sentence for the man, that for the accused and the society to realise that children should be protected and one cannot take advantage of their innocence, the punishment of rigorous imprisonment of 10 years and Rs10,000 would be sufficient.

The court also recommended the case for compensation by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA). The man had been in prison since his arrest after the police complaint. The time he spent in prison as an undertrial will be deducted from his sentence.