Two men receive 20 years RI for raping a minor girl in Thane

Thane: A court in Thane has sentenced two men, including a physically challenged man, to 20 years in prison for the rape of a 12-year-old girl in 2019, finding that they had ruined the child’s entire life, causing irreparable harm.

Special POCSO Court Judge Ruby U Malvankar also imposed a fine of Rs 26,000 each on the two accused in his verdict delivered on June 29.

A copy of the order was made available on Wednesday.

The judge ordered that the amount of the fine be collected from the defendant and paid to the victim as compensation.

She also ordered that the judgment be forwarded to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to pay compensation to the victim.

Special Public Prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale told the court that the victim and her siblings were living with their grandparents in Kalwa district of Thane city in Maharashtra state.

In October 2019, the victim and her friend went to a park, where one of the defendants, now 24 years old, lured them under a pretext.

He took her to the hut of the other 27-year-old defendant, who is physically disabled. There, the defendant raped her and gagged her when she raised the alarm. The defendant also threatened to kill her and told her not to tell anyone about the crime.

He later raped her several times after threatening her.

The girl filed a police complaint against the two on December 3, 2019, whereupon they were arrested.

The court convicted them under relevant laws, including the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

In her ruling, the judge stated: “In view of the evidence presented by the prosecution, the involvement of both defendants in the commission of the said crime is clear and unequivocal.”

The court found that although one of the defendants was not personally involved in the commission of the “crime of forcible sexual penetration” against the victim, he had assisted in the commission of this crime.

He took the victim to the other defendant’s hut each time, even though he knew that the other defendant would commit the “heinous crime” there, the judge said.

The defendant committed the crime despite his lameness and limp and inflicted bodily harm on the girl on more than one occasion, she said.

“In the light of the facts and circumstances of the case, the evidence presented and the arguments advanced, it appears that both the accused have committed a grave and heinous crime and have ruined the entire life of a child who is barely 12 years old, causing irreparable harm that cannot be repaired in any way,” the court said.

At the same time, the fact that both defendants are young and one of them is also physically disabled are mitigating circumstances that must be taken into account when determining the sentence, it said.

“The court is therefore of the view that, in order to meet the ends of justice, the accused should be sentenced to the minimum term prescribed, along with a fine, rather than to life imprisonment or the death penalty,” the judge said.