Mumbai: A special court has sentenced a 28-year-old man who worked as a public toilet caretaker to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old child of the neighbourhood in 2019 when the minor had gone to the public toilet.
The incident had taken place on Nov 4, 2019 around 2 pm. Testifying before the court the following year, the child narrated that she was exiting the public toilet when he sexually assaulted her. She said she had screamed in pain and he had let her go. The man had given her Rs. 20 and told her not to reveal the incident to anyone. The child’s mother had seen the money in her hand when she returned home and asked about it. The child had merely said that the toilet’s caretaker had given it. The mother had not taken it seriously.
Special Public Prosecutor Pranjali Joshi said the incident came to light when the child was playing with her elder sister a few hours later and told her about it on seeing the man from the window of their home. The elder sister had then asked their mother to listen to the child and the mother had learnt about it. She had informed her husband, a tempo driver and the parents had then gone to find him at the public toilet. The man had tried to flee on seeing them and injured himself by a fall. Women of the neighbourhood had gathered and helped the parents nab him. He was taken to the police station where the mother had lodged the complaint against him.
Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Judge Anis A. Khan imposed a fine of Rs. 1,000 on the man.
