Mumbai: 39-year-old accused sentenced to seven years for raping 14-year-old girl

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The Dindoshi Sessions Court has sentenced a 39-year-old accused to seven years' imprisonment for raping a fourteen-year-old girl. In addition to the imprisonment, the court has imposed a fine of Rs 25,000. If the accused fails to pay the fine, the court has ordered an additional punishment of 3 months.

The accused has already spent nearly seven years in jail, and on June 30th, the court sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment.

The case was registered at the Kurar police station on August 18, 2016, under various sections of the IPC and the POSCO Act.

The victim, a 14-year-old girl studying in standard IX at a private school, was residing at her aunt and uncle's house while her parents lived in her native village.

The convicted accused, a 32-year-old man, lived in the neighboring house in the same locality, according to an officer.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the accused had a 2-year-old daughter, and the victim girl used to visit his house to play with his daughter and sometimes to buy daily necessities for the accused from a shop.

In her statement to the police, the victim mentioned that the accused attempted to touch her chest and threatened her when she objected.

Despite experiencing inappropriate touching, the victim was coerced into visiting the accused's house under the pretense of playing with his daughter, claiming her aunt had allowed it.

During these visits, the accused molested her multiple times and forcibly raped her on several occasions.

Fearful for her life, the victim started refusing whenever the accused asked her to come to his home, stated the officer.

The victim did not disclose anything to her aunt, but another woman from the locality sensed something amiss and, upon inquiry, the girl revealed the truth, according to another officer.

Based on the complaint filed by the victim and her aunt, the case was registered, and the accused was arrested on the same day in 2016, subsequently being sent to jail.

His bail was rejected, and finally, Judge SN Salve of Dindoshi Session Court Number 15 pronounced the accused guilty, sentencing him to seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000. In case of non-payment, an additional 3-month sentence was ordered, as confirmed by Senior Inspector Satesh Gadve of Kurar Police.

The diligent efforts of all the officers, including Police Inspector Chalke and Chandanshive, WAPI Gayatri Bedse, API Nagre, and Police Constables Rabade, Jadhav, Shaikh, and Surwade, contributed to the successful outcome, added Inspector Gadve.

Expert opinion:

"In custody cases, trials are conducted even when the accused is in jail. When bail applications are repeatedly rejected, the trials proceed with shorter dates. Courts do not provide longer dates considering that the accused is already in custody," explained an expert.

"After the trial, if the accused is convicted, the number of days spent in jail custody is deducted from the overall conviction period. For example, if the accused has already spent six years in jail custody and the conviction is for seven years, they would need to spend only one year in jail. This is how the court imposes the conviction," the expert clarified.