Mumbai: Observing that a man had targeted a young girl on her way to school, a special court designated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has sentenced a 40-year-old to three years of simple imprisonment.
The incident had taken place in November 2016, when the 11-year-old was walking to her school in Kandivali with two of her friends. They were walking on the footpath near the school and the man, a sweeper at a housing society, had come from the opposite direction and touched the child inappropriately. She had raised an alarm and he had fled.
She began crying and her friends took her to school where she told about the incident to the watchman and a teacher. After returning home, she told the incident to her parents. Her father went to drop her to school the following day and she pointed to a man standing outside her school to her father as the same person who had misbehaved with her.
Her school teacher had nabbed him and the police had arrived. The teacher had also testified as a witness during the trial and identified the man as the same person he had apprehended.
The man had claimed in his defence that he had been falsely implicated and had brought his two co-workers as witnesses in her support, one of whom had told the court that he had been at work on the day of the incident. The court did not accept this alibi.
After he was found guilty, he had sought leniency on the grounds that he had never been convicted before. He also said that he has two children and is the sole earning member.
Special Judge SJ Ansari said the fact that he had targeted a young girl while she was proceeding towards her school, shows that an appropriate punishment will have to be given.
Judge Ansari said in the judgment while proceeding to pass the sentence, that the court is keeping in mind his age, family situation and the fact that he had never been convicted before but balancing it with the severity of offence committed against the girl child.
