Thane: A special POCSO court in Thane has awarded five years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) to three men for raping a teen-aged girl in 2014.
The order was passed on January 4 and a copy of it was made available on Tuesday. Judge S P Gondhalekar pronounced the three accused guilty under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
He also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of them. Additional Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Moholkar told the court that on April 14, 2014, when the victim, then aged 15 went to answer nature's call near her house in Waghoba Nagar at Kalwa here in Maharashtra, the accused caught hold of her.
The accused put a handkerchief on the girl's mouth and when she fell unconscious, they dragged her to nearby bushes where they took turns to rape her, the prosecution said. Based on the victim's complaint, the Kalwa police later registered a case and arrested the accused. The judge in his order said the prosecution has proved all charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubt and they need to be convicted and sentenced.
