Mumbai: A special court designated for sexual crimes against children on Tuesday sentenced an 81-year-old beggar to 20 years in jail for raping an eight-year-old physically-challenged child in his neighbourhood.
The child, who was in Class 3 at the time of the incident, was returning home around 5pm after dropping her nephew to tuition, when the destitute man dragged her into a room which a woman had given him to sleep. Closing the door, he undressed her and inserted his finger into her private parts.
He also forced his organ into her mouth as well as her body. The child initially told her mother that she had urinated in her clothes, but her mother got suspicious on finding the substance sticky while helping her change her clothes. Eventually, the child narrated the incident when her aunt asked her about it after she had calmed down.
Special Public Prosecutors Sureeta Singh and VD More said the DNA of the semen of the man matched with that of the substance found on her clothes.
In another case, a 30-year-old man was sentenced to five years in jail for inappropriately touching a six-year-old child who lived in the same building. The man used to live in the building for the past 15 years, and was living with his brother’s family. He used to do errands and clean the building. A complaint was lodged last year when the kid who was sent to a local shop to buy milk, had rushed home crying.
She told parents the man whom she called ‘kaka’ had met her while she was waiting for the lift and picking her up, had taken her upstairs and then tickled her after putting his hand through her slacks. She told parents he said ‘it is good’.
Scared, she started crying and rushed home. Special Public Prosecutor Meera Choudhari said the child was in kindergarten when she deposed before court.
