Youth: Teenager sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping minor under pretext of sham marriage | Mumbai News

Mumbai: A special POCSO court found that the accused had sufficient maturity at the time of the offence considering his age, and sentenced a man, now 29, to 10 years of hard labour for having sexual intercourse with a girl aged between 14 and 16 over a period of two years and impregnating her. The accused came together with the minor after befriending her outside a dargah in 2015. In 2017, he refused to marry when she became pregnant. DNA tests convicted the accused. “He was involved in the offence of repeatedly raping the 15-year-old girl on the pretext that he was going to marry her,” the judge said, rejecting the defence that the relationship was consensual. The accused was also fined Rs 20,000. “Out of the fine paid by the accused, Rs 15,000 will be paid to the girl as compensation…,” the judge said. The judge further said that if the compensation cannot be paid to the minor from the fine, the secretary of the district legal department will have to pay the compensation to the minor under the ‘compensation scheme’. The minor was one of the eight witnesses examined by special public prosecutor Pranjali Joshi. The judge said the evidence on record showed that the prosecution had proved that the minor was 14 years of age in 2015, when the friendship between the minor and the accused existed. “The accused was mature, above 18 years of age, and hence he knew very well that the girl was a minor. He promised the minor to marry her and had forced physical intercourse on several occasions. Thereafter, in 2017, the minor was pregnant. There is clear evidence in the record showing the accused’s involvement in the crime,” the judge said. The judge further said that there is evidence that the pregnancy was terminated and the samples were sent to a laboratory. Also, there is a DNA report on the fetus which shows that the minor and the accused are the biological parents. So, given the evidence available, there is absolutely no reason to discard the evidence presented by the prosecution about the accused’s involvement in the crime. “There is not a single reason in the record which shows that the girl has any reason to make false statements against the accused,” the judge said.

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