Neighbour gets three-year RI for molesting girl

A special court on Friday sentenced a 33-year-old to three-years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for inappropriately touching his neighbour, a 13-year-old girl who was on her way to school an early morning in 2018.

The court refused to be lenient with the man, a father of a five-year-old, while deciding the quantum of sentence and said that the victim was 13-years-old at the time and was on her way to school when he committed the act of inappropriately touching her.

“Such nature of acts, that too in daytime create fear in the minds of children,” special judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Bharti Kale said in her judgment.

The court also imposed a total fine of Rs. 15,000 on the man and directed that of the amount, Rs. 10,000 be paid to the victim as compensation.

The victim has deposed before the court that on August 21, 2018, she was on her way to school at 6.40 am when the man accosted her on the road. He offered her Rs 20 and she refused to accept it. Then he forcibly put the money in her bag, hugged her and moving her hand over her body.

He threatened her not to reveal the incident to anyone. Since she had exams and was getting late to school, she proceeded. When she returned, her mother found her crying and she revealed her ordeal to her mother.