14 hours Ago By Asseem Shaikh
1 2 3 Pune: A special Pocso court has sentenced two security guards to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl in a Wakad housing society in 2017, observing that the evidence provided by the child witness was cogent, reliable and trustworthy. Judge Kavita Shirbhate, who relied on the statements of the survivor, her seven-year-old brother, their mother and the medical officer's evidence, observed that there was no reason for the minor survivor to wrongly implicate the guards in a case of sexual assault. In the order on April 16, the judge sentenced the accused to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs20,000 each under the provisions of Section 376 (d) (gang rape) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The judge also found the guards guilty of offences of criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt, sentencing them to two and one years of rigorous imprisonment, respectively, and imposing a fine of Rs 3,000 each. All the sentences awarded to the accused will run concurrently. A total fine of Rs 46,000, if deposited by the accused, would be paid to the survivor as compensation as per the provisions under section 357 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
If the fine is not paid, the duo will have to suffer additional imprisonment for one month as per the court order. The judge did not pass a separate sentence for sexual/aggravated penetrative assault as per the provisions of sections 3, 4, 5 (g) (m), and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. Special public prosecutor Nitin Konghe examined eight witnesses and relied heavily on the evidence given by the survivor to prove that the guards lured her to accompany them into a building where they assaulted her and threatened to eliminate her, her family members if she revealed the incident to them.
The defence lawyers, representing the guards, argued that their client was wrongly implicated in the case as they instructed the survivor and her brother not to play in the garden, besides accusing their father of attacking them. Graphic: THE CASE The prosecution's case is that the guards sexually assaulted the girl while she was playing with her brother and other children in the playground of a housing society in Wakad prior to Sept 9, 2017 The incident came to light after the survivor's mother discovered that her daughter was suffering from pain on Sept 12, 2017. The survivor shared details of the heinous acts of the guards after her mother took her into confidence, following which an FIR was registered with the Wakad police, leading to the guards' arrest on the same day COURT'S OBSERVATION There is sufficient evidence to show that the accused committed aggravated sexual assault on the survivor, and her mother discovered that she was suffering from pain while giving her a bath.
The evidence of the child and the medical officer is sufficient to prove the ingredients of sexual assault under the IPC and Pocso Pune: A special Pocso court has sentenced two security guards to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl in a Wakad housing society in 2017, observing that the evidence provided by the child witness was cogent, reliable and trustworthy. Judge Kavita Shirbhate, who relied on the statements of the survivor, her seven-year-old brother, their mother and the medical officer's evidence, observed that there was no reason for the minor survivor to wrongly implicate the guards in a case of sexual assault. In the order on April 16, the judge sentenced the accused to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs20,000 each under the provisions of Section 376 (d) (gang rape) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The judge also found the guards guilty of offences of criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt, sentencing them to two and one years of rigorous imprisonment, respectively, and imposing a fine of Rs 3,000 each. All the sentences awarded to the accused will run concurrently. A total fine of Rs 46,000, if deposited by the accused, would be paid to the survivor as compensation as per the provisions under section 357 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
If the fine is not paid, the duo will have to suffer additional imprisonment for one month as per the court order. The judge did not pass a separate sentence for sexual/aggravated penetrative assault as per the provisions of sections 3, 4, 5 (g) (m), and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. Special public prosecutor Nitin Konghe examined eight witnesses and relied heavily on the evidence given by the survivor to prove that the guards lured her to accompany them into a building where they assaulted her and threatened to eliminate her, her family members if she revealed the incident to them.
The defence lawyers, representing the guards, argued that their client was wrongly implicated in the case as they instructed the survivor and her brother not to play in the garden, besides accusing their father of attacking them. Graphic: THE CASE The prosecution's case is that the guards sexually assaulted the girl while she was playing with her brother and other children in the playground of a housing society in Wakad prior to Sept 9, 2017 The incident came to light after the survivor's mother discovered that her daughter was suffering from pain on Sept 12, 2017. The survivor shared details of the heinous acts of the guards after her mother took her into confidence, following which an FIR was registered with the Wakad police, leading to the guards' arrest on the same day COURT'S OBSERVATION There is sufficient evidence to show that the accused committed aggravated sexual assault on the survivor, and her mother discovered that she was suffering from pain while giving her a bath.
The evidence of the child and the medical officer is sufficient to prove the ingredients of sexual assault under the IPC and Pocso.
.jpg?auto=webp&crop=3%3A2&width=1200)
