A special court on Saturday sentenced a 24-year-old to five-years-jail for undressing and sexually assaulting a 11-year-old girl, a family friend’s daughter who used to address him as ‘dada’.
Special under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act AD Deo said in her judgment while deciding the sentence, that the aggravating circumstance against him is that he had committed aggravated sexual assault on a victim aged 11 years 7 months and had also disrobed her.
The court also noted that the sexual assault is upon a victim who was the daughter of a family friend and who would address him as ‘dada’. The other circumstance, the court said, is that cases of child abuse are on the rise in society. The court added that children are soft targets of sexual violence and therefore are extremely vulnerable and said it kept in mind that the impact of child sexual abuse is devastating on survivors.
As per the complaint registered in Ghatkopar police station, the girl was on her way on 9 April 2016 at 8 PM to her cousin’s home for guide books when the youth was coming from the opposite direction on the road. He asked her to wait for five minutes, saying that he had something for her to convey to her elder sister. He came back and took her by her hand to a nearby alley, where taking her to a dark corner, he kissed her on the lips and cheeks and undressing her partly, fondled her chest. She asked him if he is her brother and he replied that he is her brother only in front of their parents and not so otherwise. He had then told her not to reveal the matter to anyone and asking her to send her elder sister to his home, left. The girl had gone home weeping and told her mother about the incident. Later, that night, they approached the police.
