Two individuals, including a woman, have been sentenced by a special court under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) for abetting the sexual assault of a minor by a 52-year-old man, resulting in the teenager becoming pregnant.
The abettors were sentenced under Section 17 of the POCSO, which stipulates that the abettor shall receive the same punishment as the offender for the crime committed as a consequence of the abetment. Both the woman and her co-accused abettor were sentenced to 10 years in jail, the same punishment as the perpetrator of the sexual assault. Prosecutor Veena Shelar stated that the pregnancy was terminated, and a DNA report was presented as evidence in court. The report showed that the sexual assaulter was the biological father of the foetus.
Victim threatened, exploited, and blackmailed
In 2019, Layis Khan sexually assaulted the 17-year-old victim over a period of three to four hours in a room. The woman, Afrinbano Khan, aged 41, and a man named Mohd. Ansari, aged 52, had visited the victim at her home, who was a school dropout, under the pretense of finding her a job as a domestic help. After this, the victim was taken to a room where Khan sexually assaulted her. Prior to leaving her alone with him, Afrinbano warned the victim that the man becomes possessed when frightened, and she would lose money if she raised an alarm, but they would gain money if she remained quiet. The woman also threatened the victim by stating that she would make her photo go viral and cause her trouble if she tried to raise an alarm. During the assault, Khan further threatened the teenager, claiming to possess videos of her that he would use to defame her if she disclosed the incident to anyone.
Around six weeks after the incident, the victim informed her elder sister that she was not getting her periods. Upon consulting a doctor who advised a pregnancy test, it was revealed that she was seven weeks pregnant. It was at this point that the victim disclosed the incident to her sister, and a police complaint was lodged.
