A 27-year-old shopkeeper was on Friday sentenced by a sessions court in Dindoshi to five-year rigorous imprisonment for groping an 11-year-old when she had gone to his shop to buy a frankie.
Additional Sessions Judge SS Oza refused leniency to the youth and said in his judgment that the victim visited the shop of the accused to purchase frankie and the accused with a sexual intent pressed her breast. The court also noted that the offence is against a child below 12 years of age.
Apart from the victim and her aunt, who lodged the report with the Goregaon police station, a shopkeeper of a nearby shop who had witnessed the incident had also appeared as a witness during the trial.
As per the police complaint, the girl who lived with her aunt and grandparents had gone on February 2, 2017, around 6.30 pm to buy a frankie from the shop of the accused.
The man, who was unknown to her, had asked to come inside the shop by offering her ice cream. She had entered the shop and he had touched her inappropriately. She had fled in fear. When she came home, her aunt and uncle were watching television. Her aunt noticed she looked frightened and asked her the reason. She narrated the incident. The report was then lodged.
The court imposed a total fine of Rs 4,000 on him and directed that the fine amount be given as compensation to the victim.
