Mumbai: A special POCSO court has sentenced a 32-year-old house help, who worked with a family in south Mumbai, to five years imprisonment for sexually harassing two brothers – eight and seven year olds – who lived in the same building.
The victims used to go to play with the son of the family where the convict worked in 2016. The MRA Marg police registered the case the same year and filed the chargesheet in July 2016. However, the trial commenced in October 2021.
As per the prosecution, the sexual exploitation of the kids came to light when the school teacher of the eight-year-old noticed a change in his behavior and conveyed the same to his mother. The school authorities advised her to send the boy for counselling.
During the sessions, the boy finally narrated his ordeal, saying that around Diwali, the convict showed him obscene videos and also touched his private parts. The boy further said that he got angry, but the man threatened to beat him up if he told anything to anyone. Later, the younger brother also shared a similar incident.
Public prosecutor Veena Shelar examined 11 witnesses, including the kids' teachers, counsellor and school principal. In his defence, the man claimed that he was falsely implicated because he had once shouted at the kids about their mischievous activities.
He claimed that his owner had a dog and a few days before the registration of the case, the duo had sprayed water on them when he was out to take the dog for a walk.
Rejecting the argument, the court observed that if they had to implicate him, they would have registered the case directly. Asserting that the defence put forth by the accused is improbable, it said, “The victim (the elder son) has disclosed incidents to the school counsellor and then to principal and mother.
There seems no reason for the principal and counsellor to falsely depose against the accused. Both of them are independent witnesses. Hence, there was no need for them to instigate the informant to file false complaints.” No parent would ever put their child’s pride at stake and depose falsely about sexual assault, the court added.
