A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) court on Tuesday sentenced a man in his late 20’s to three years in jail for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.
The man Aakash Doke, has been in custody since his arrest in January 2018. Special judge under the POCSO Act Priti Kumar while convicting him, gave him a set-off for the period he had already spent in prison, as required under law.
As per the case registered in Bhandup police station, the girl was playing in her society premises when around 7.45, her mother went to look for her as she had not returned. The mother found her sitting shocked and frightened near a dustbin in the backside of the building. The sweeper of the society was questioning a man about his identity. On taking the child in confidence, she told her mother that ‘dada’ had taken her behind the dustbin, kissed and touched her inappropriately. She told that the sweeper had rescued her when she was trying to push the man away.
The sweeper also appeared as an eye-witness during the trial. Earlier, while rejecting the bail application of the man, the court had considered the age of the victim and that he was a father of two children and had committed the assault.
