35-year-old labourer gets 3 years’ rigorous imprisonment for kissing teen neighbour

MUMBAI: A special Pocso court has convicted and sentenced a 35-year-old labourer to three years’ rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting his 15-year-old neighbour by kissing her twice in one day on the pretext of collecting details of the set-top box at her home in 2014. The accused told the minor that “instead of getting molested by an outsider, it is better to get molested by an insider”and threatened to kill her if she revealed the incident.
Sentencing the accused, special judge Seema C Jadhav on Monday said, “It is relevant to mention here that the victim is a child below 16 years old. The accused is not a stranger but the neighbour of the victim. Sexual activities with a young girl of immature age have a traumatic effect on her, which persists throughout her life. ”
The accused was arrested on November 6, 2014, and granted bail the followingmonth. In March this year, he was re-arrested after a nonbailable warrant was issued against him.
Among the witnesses examined by special public prosecutor Veena Shelar was the minor. She told the court that on November 5, 2014, her mother and brothers left for work and she was alone at home. At noon, the accused came to her house on the pretext of taking the number of the set-top box on request of a cable operator. He put his hand on her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek.