Statement of special needs youth gets molester 10-year imprisonment

MUMBAI: The deposition by a 21-year-old special needs person, who was sexually assaulted when he was 16 but had the mind of a seven-year-old, has ensured that his tormentor was sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment.
The culprit, now 31, had not only abused him, but also left him with cigarette butt burns in 2016. Special Pocso Act court judge Seema Jadhav also fined the accused Rs 6,000. The most challenging fact was that the youth had to present his testimony through a special needs interpreter in court but he managed admirably. He also identified the culprit.
Raised by his father, the then teen was playing by himself outside his house, where his grandmother also stayed, in August 2016 when the accused, who lived in the vicinity, accosted him and took him to a public toilet where he was sexually assaulted.
In his statement, the father said the boy used to go to a special school but had eventually stopped. That day, his son returned home late in the night. When he asked what took him so long, the boy explained how the accused had taken him to a public toilet, sodomised him and forced him to have oral sex. He added that he beat him with a bamboo stick, tied his hands and even inflicted burns. The accused threatened to kill him if he revealed the incident to anyone.
The father confronted the accused, but he too was slapped and threatened.
Months passed, but the boy kept complaining about discomfort in his private parts.
His father finally took him to a doctor next year. During examination, the doctor found old injuries in his private parts which had not been attended to properly. The youth told the doctor about the sexual assault. The man even had to undergo an HIV test.
At this point, the doctor advised the father to report the incident to police. An FIR was registered and the police began the probe. Among the seven witnesses cited by special public prosecutor Veena Shelar to seek the conviction of the accused were the youth, his father, medical officers, and the police.