MUMBAI: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced a
serial molester to a total
15 years in jail for sexually abusing three minor children in his neighbourhood.
The man was found guilty and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in each of the three cases. The sentences will have to be served one after the other.
The 39-year-old accused, arrested by
Santacruz police in 2015, will be granted a setoff for the time he has already spent in jail. This means, he will now be in jail for 12 years.
The accused was, however, acquitted in a fourth case where he was accused of sexually abusing two girls in the neighbourhood.
In April 2015, four offences of molestation and rape were lodged against the accused at
Santacruz police station. Police arrested him and alleged he was a serial offender who called the girls over to play with his two-year-old child.
A 10-year-old girl first complained to her parents, and later two girls—aged between five and eight—related similar experiences.
The 10-year-old told police that she and other children from the neighbourhood would often go to play at the residence of the accused, whom she called “mama” (uncle). The girl said that on April 15, 2015, when she was playing at his place, he sexually abused her. She informed her parents a few days later.
The 10-year-old girl also told police that her sister too had told her parents about a similar incident involving the accused.
