Mumbai: Man gets 5-year jail for molesting 6 minors

(Representational Image)

A special court on Saturday convicted a 27-year-old man for molesting six school girls during their recess time. Special Court judge Rekha N Pandhare convicted Dharmendra Rao, a security guard, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and sentenced him to five years of imprisonment along with fine of Rs 21,000. During the course of trial, the court examined all the six victims, who had been molested by Rao.

A statement recorded before the police by a class teacher said that on July 27, 2016, after having lunch during the school recess break, she proceeded to the playground to call back students to the classrooms. When the teacher was walking towards the classroom, she met six girls from classes VI and VII on the stairway. The girls confided in her that an unknown person wearing a black shirt touched their lips, cheeks and back inapporiately. The victims also revealed that the accused also winked and made obscene gestures at them. They added that after molesting them the accused fled to the ground floor.

The teacher then managed to nab the accused inside the school premises and immediately informed the police. Rao was brought to Sion Police station where a case had been registered.

One of the victims, who deposed in the court, said she was studying in class VII when the incident took place. On the day of the incident, after having lunch around 3 pm on the ground floor, she was making her way to her first-floor classroom with her friends, when an unknown ‘uncle’ touched her lips and ran away. After the incident, they met the teacher and informed her. During her deposition, the girl also identified the accused in the court.

The prosecution also recorded the statement of the school principal. The principal told the court that on the day of the incident she was out of school for some official work. She got a call from a teacher, who informed her that some girls had been molested by an unknown man. She immediately came to the school and saw the accused who was taken into custody by the Sion police. The principal also identified the accused in the court.