Mumbai: 25-year-old youth gets 10 years in jail for sexually assaulting minor

A special court designated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has sentenced a 25-year-old auto driver to ten-years-jail for luring an eight-year-old child living in his lane with chocolate in 2015 and sexually assaulting her near a graveyard.

The sentencing took place on Monday.

The man stayed in the neighbourhood of the child for two months before the incident. The court noted that he had taken her to the bushes near a graveyard by promising her chocolate and sexually assaulted her. The graveyard's watchman who had been chatting with a friend had seen the accused taking the victim to the bushes and had testified in court. He had narrated how he saw the child naked while the accused sexually assaulted her. He then raised an alarm after which the accused was nabbed.

The mother of the child who had lodged the complaint against the man at Santacruz police station had told the court that she had sent her daughter to fetch water from the public tap but she did not return as she was abducted by the man who assaulted her. The victim was around 13 years old when she was deposed before the court. The victim said to the court that the man had beaten her when she refused to do as he demanded.

Arguing for maximum punishment for him, the prosecution had told the court that considering the tender age of the victim, by committing the acts, the man had created terror in her mind and that she would have suffered trauma due to it.

The man had claimed that the complaint had been lodged as an act of revenge as he had quarrels with the child's father, who he claims to be an alcoholic. However, rejecting his defence, the court said that the accused had not brought any evidence in support of it.

The court also imposed a total fine of Rs. 17,000 on the man. It directed that from it, Rs. 10,000 be paid as compensation to the victim.

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