Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Bhopal Court has convicted a man of raping his 12-year-old niece and sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh, said officials here on Wednesday.
Sharing the details of the case, advocate Diviya Shukla said that on July 11, 2023 mother of the minor girl field a missing complaint of her with Nishatpura police.
The girl had left the home telling family that she was going to her friend’s birthday; however, she never returned home. It later came to fore later that the girl’s uncle (Phupa) had proposed to marry her and lured her into leaving with him for Ajmer.
The duo came to Ajmer and visited Dargah Sharif. Thereafter the man took the minor to a hotel and raped her. On July 14, the girl got a call from her sisters telling that an FIR has been registered in connection with her missing. The man along with the girl returned to Bhopal but the former threatened the minor with dire consequences if she disclosed about the sexual assault. The girl remained tightlipped but family came to know about the entire incident and they lodged a rape complaint against the man.
Minor’s consent doesn’t matter under POCSO
During the hearing, it was argued that the girl had left home with her uncle of her own accord. Upon returning, she remained silent and did not speak about the sexual assault, reportedly because she had started liking her uncle.
However, the court observed that since the girl was a minor (below 18 years of age), her consent held no legal value. Under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, if a girl below 18 leaves home with someone, regardless of her own consent, it mandates a minimum punishment of 10 years for the person responsible for luring her away from home. If the victim is below 16 years of age, it attracts minimum punishment of 20 years.
