A special POCSO court has sentenced a man, a father of three girls, to 20 years imprisonment for repeatedly sexually assaulting his eldest daughter, a minor, from January 2017 to January 2020. The victim was five years old when her mother passed away.
The police had also booked the victim's aunt for not reporting the incident despite the fact that the victim had reached out to her for help. The court, however, acquitted the aunt for want of corroborative evidence.
The judge said, “The victim have sustained repeated sexual assault since a tender age when she didn't even knew what is sex.” Furthermore, the medical evidence confirms the abhorrent act, said the judge. The court, however, refused to award a maximum punishment of life term. It reasoned, “There would be no one in the family of the victim if the accused would go behind the bar till the remainder of his life.”
The victim said that her father had beaten up and threatened to kill her. The accused claimed that she had an affair, but the court rejected the argument. The girl, on February 14, 2020, made a call to the child helpline, after which an activist took her to the Malad police.
