MUMBAI: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act court on Friday convicted an X-ray technician from civic-run Nair hospital for molesting a 17-year-old girl who had come to the hospital for a check-up in 2014. The technician, Vijay Kurhate, will have to spend three years behind bars.
The girl had been ailing and was suffering from a persistent fever and cold. As she was weak, her aunt accompanied her to the hospital. Special public prosecutor Usha Jadhav said both the teenager and her aunt deposed during the trial.
The minor told the court that in 2014, she was undergoing treatment at a suburban hospital. As her disease could not be diagnosed, she was referred to Nair hospital. Accompanied by her maternal aunt, the girl then visited the hospital on February 5, 2014, where she was advised to have an X-ray and other tests. She said they made their way to the X-ray department where the attendant told her that only she was allowed inside.
The minor said after she went inside the accused made her stand in front of the X-ray machine and molested her. “I felt angry. I slapped him. I came out and narrated the incident to my aunt,” she recalled before the court.
The minor said that her aunt informed the security guard who advised them to lodge a
police complaint. An FIR was lodged and the minor’s statement recorded. During her cross-examination, the teenager denied the suggestion that the accused had only touched her shoulders in a bid to make her stand properly as she as she was unable do so due to her weakness. —Rebecca Samervel
Representative image 
