Pune: Fast track court sentences man to 25 years in jail for raping 13-year-old kin

PUNE: The fast track court of special judge (POCSO Act) K K Jahagirdar on Wednesday convicted and sentenced a 23-year-old man to 25 years’ rigorous imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of total Rs60,000 on him for raping his 13-year-old cousin on April 1, 2019.
Special public prosecutor Arundhari Bramhe told TOI on Thursday, “The accused was initially charged, among other offences, for rape on a relative but the court omitted and replaced the same with a charge under Section 376 (3) of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with rape on a girl below 16 years age. Last year, Section 376 (3) was amended with a provision of minimum 20 years of punishment for an accused in case of a conviction.”
The court referred to the evidence recorded by witnesses and citations in details and observed that the survivor’s evidence remained intact even after cross-examination. As such, the accused had failed to rebut the charges and the presumption lies in favour of the prosecution.
The fine amount is to be given to the survivor once recovered from the accused.
As per the prosecution’s case, the survivor had been to her maternal aunt’s home for summer holidays. Her paternal aunt, too, stays nearby. Around 4.30pm on April 1, 2019, the survivor had gone to her paternal aunt’s home for watching television and the accused, who is her cousin, was then alone at home. While the girl was watching TV, the accused came near and touched her inappropriately before forcing himself on her. He went on to rape her despite the girl’s resistance.
The accused had denied the allegations and claimed he was falsely implicated owing to a property dispute within the family.