Mumbai: Relative gets 10-yrs-jail for sexual assault on minor girl

Mumbai: A special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act has sentenced a 30-year-old man, a relative of a minor, to ten years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting the 17-year-old, leading to her pregnancy.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 5,000 on the man. In default of its payment, he will have to serve an extra three months in prison. In her order, Special Judge SC Jadhav recommended the case to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) for providing compensation to the victim.

Prosecutor Veena Shelar said the incident took place in 2016. The victim had said in her statement that some months before the incident, she, along with her father and siblings, were living with their aunt as her grandmother had met with an accident and her mother was staying at the hospital to take care of her.

expressed his liking for her and followed her to college.

She said many relatives had arrived from their native country in February, and he was one of them—the husband of one of the relatives. He had expressed to her that he liked her and then started following college. He had taken her to his home in Panvel under pressure.

His wife was at home, and they had food. The girl suspects there was something in the food as she had lost consciousness and, on gaining it, realised that he had sexually assaulted her.

The wife later told her when she was leaving their home that the man regularly does the same with other girls and threatens her against revealing it.

The minor revealed the matter to her mother after two months. In another two days, she started showing signs of pregnancy, and a police complaint was lodged.