22-year-old man gets 10-year RI for raping minor

LUDHIANA: A 22-year-old man was sentenced to 10-year rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor in 2015. The court of additional sessions judge Karamjit Singh Sular also imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on the convict and in default of payment of fine, he will have to further undergo a rigorous imprisonment of two years.
On November 12, 2015, police had booked the 22-year-old accused under section 376 (rape) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 3 and 4 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

As per prosecution, a police party led by sub-inspector Suresh Kumar reached the place of the incident after receiving information about the accused. The accused was arrested from near a gurdwara in Meherban area. Later, the father of the rape survivor recorded his statement with the police. According to the father, his elder daughter, aged 9, had gone to a gurdwara in the village to play. A student of Class V, the father said, the daughter did not return for some time. At around 2.30 pm, he along with his wife went to the gurdwara to locate her. On reaching there, they heard screams from a room built on a vacant plot in front of the gurdwara. Both went inside and saw the 22-year-old accused raping his daughter. The father of the rape survivor knew the accused as he used to live at the back of their house. The accused pushed the complainant and fled from the spot.

The rape survivor said she was playing on the street when the accused lured her with money. Then, he took her to a room and tried to rape her. Later, police arrested the accused and registered a case against him. Thereafter, they produced a challan against him in the court of law. During the trial of the case, he pleaded innocence and claimed false implication.

District attorney Ravinder Abrol said the prosecution pleaded for severe punishment to the accused based on the prosecution evidence including a statement of prosecutrix, complainant, other witnesses and medical examination reports. The court turned down the plea of the accused and sentenced him under sections 376 of the IPC and section 4 of POSCO.