Man convicted for assaulting 13-year-old

MUMBAI: A special court set up under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act recently convicted a 26 -yearold man for forcing his friend’s sister, who was 13 at the time, into a physical relationship in 2013. The man has been sentenced to five years imprisonment and will have to pay a fine of ₹5,000.

He had been charged for kidnapping and sexually assaulting the minor. However, due to lack of evidence, the charge of rape was not proved. The court has, thus, convicted the accused under section 7 of the POCSO Act, for touching the victim with sexual intent and sexual assault without penetration.

“The accused was newly-married, but out of lust, he took away the minor sister of his friend with the intention to establish sexual relations with her,” the court noted. According to the prosecution, the accused and the survivor met at a resort on November 29, 2013. The survivor was on a vacation with her family. Her brother introduced the accused to them. The accused asked the teenager for her number and called her the next day asking to meet him. On November 30, 2013, the survivor, accompanied by a friend, went to meet him.

The next day, the accused called her again and threatened to commit suicide if she did not meet him. He then forced her to accompany him to Shirdi. According to the teenager, he did not allow her to call her parents. Upon reaching Shirdi, he gave her a drink. She said that she remembers the accused undressing her but lost consciousness after. On December 3, the two returned to Mumbai. The accused took her to the same resort, where he once again gave her a drink that made her unconscious, she said.

The teenager returned home on December 4, and narrated the incident to her parents. They took her for a medical check-up and approached the police station, where a kidnapping case was registered. The medical reports were submitted by the prosecution as proof of rape.

However, the court held that the charges of rape have not been proved as the girl did not make a mention of sexual intercourse and the medical test did not provide any conclusive evidence of sexual assault.

HE ALSO FACED CHARGE OF RAPE, WHICH WAS NOT PROVED OWING TO LACK OF EVIDENCE