Mumbai: A special court designated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on Tuesday sentenced a 40-year-old man to rigorous imprisonment for life for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old child of his neighbourhood twice, the first time by promising her a chocolate.
The man had threatened the child with a knife after the assault when she shouted in pain. He told her he would send her mother, a sweeper at a hospital, to jail if she narrated the incident to anyone. He had also threatened to kill the child and throw her body if she revealed it. The child had not revealed the incidents that happened on consecutive days out of this fear, delaying the lodging of the complaint. It is only when pain in her private part persisted over the days, that she revealed about the pain to her aunt and the matter came to light.
Child threatened and given Rs 20
Prosecutor VD More said the child was playing with her siblings in the area, when the man had called her to him and taking her by the hand, took her to his home by telling her that he would give her a chocolate. Once inside, he had latched the door and sexually assaulted her. Appearing before the special court two years after the incident when she was 11, the child had told it that the man had also given her Rs 20 after threatening her. She had thrown the money on the way back home.
Special Judge Priti Kumar (Ghule) also imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on the man. The man had been in jail since Dec 2020. The court also directed that the victim be given compensation under the Victim Compensation Scheme as per rule.
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