Mumbai: A special POCSO court has sentenced a 24-year-old man to 20 years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a fouryear-old girl and burning her with bidi in the compound of a BMC school in February 2019. As per the prosecution, a police complaint was lodged by the victim's mother on February 12, 2019. She alleged that the incident took place in the evening on February 10 when her kids were playing in the school compound in Borivali. Sometime later, the girl came running home and said the accused did a 'bad act' with her, the mother said.
The enraged woman went around to look for the accused, but he was not found. The child later narrated her ordeal, revealing that the man, Rakesh, had sexually assaulted her and also burnt her finger with bidi. When the family confronted the accused, he threatened them that if they reported the case to police he would kill them. Initially, they were frightened, but they ultimately lodged a complaint, fearing for the victim as the accused used to roam in their area. The defence claimed that it was the school's watchman who committed sexual assault on the girl.
However, the court said, the child identified the accused in the court and also denied the allegations against the watchman. The court accepted the victim's testimony, who was eight-year-old when she deposed, observing, “The victim has no reason to depose falsely against the accused.” Her testimony was supported by the parents who described the incident as narrated by the girl.
