A special court on Monday sentenced a 21-year-old youth to seven years imprisonment for sexually assaulting his second-cousin sister aged 11 years in 2019 in her elder brother’s home where she had come for vacations. A woman neighbour who witnessed the incident from her window appeared as an eyewitness in the case.
The incident took place in May 2019, when the girl, who was then in Class 3, was in the mezzanine floor of the home where she had been staying for the past month. The cousin brother, who worked as a caterer, was also living there for over a month for work purposes. The girl was playing games on her mobile lying stomach-down on the floor, when the youth forced himself on her.
Prosecutor Veena Shelar said a neighbour witnessed this act from her first floor window and on noticing this, the youth released his sister. The child had told the court in her deposition that she had turned to find him half naked and hurriedly dressing himself. She was frightened and did not reveal the incident to anyone, but the neighbour, who later appeared as an eyewitness during the trial, alerted elders of her house and a complaint was filed by the girl’s aunt. The child’s mother had passed away and her father, an alcoholic, had left her and her siblings.
Special judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act Seema C. Jadhav recommended the case for compensation to the District Legal Services Authority.
