57-year-old gets life term for raping 14-year-old distant relative

A 57-year-old man in Mumbai has been sentenced to life imprisonment for repeatedly raping his 14-year-old distant relative in 2020. The man's cousin's granddaughter had been living with him and his wife since she was 2 years old. The court found the victim's testimony credible and imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on the accused.

MUMBAI: A special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court last week sentenced a 57-year-old man to life imprisonment for the repeated rape of his 14-year-old distant relative, identified as his cousin’s granddaughter, in Trombay during 2020. Special judge Aditee Kadam also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on the accused.

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“If the testimony of the victim is definite and consistent, corroborating evidence is not necessary. Mere delay in lodging or report would not affect the credibility of the victim – the mere absence of injury on the body of the victim cannot be taken to mean that no rape was committed. False implication of accused is normally improbable,” held the court. According to the prosecution, the victim’s father is an alcoholic, and her mother left the family when the victim was 2 years old. Hence, the accused and his wife have been taking care of her since then.

In 2020, the victim had come to live with her aunt with a plan of staying for three months, however, the aunt sensed that the victim was extremely upset. After enquiring a lot, the victim revealed that the accused had been misbehaving and making physical advances with her for the past two years. The victim claimed in her First Informant Report (FIR) that the accused used her inappropriately when everyone was asleep at night. “I would tell him to stop again and again, but he would ignore and continue his act,” said the victim in her deposition.

On August 8, 2020, around 11.30pm the accused allegedly raped the victim for a prolonged period. Being in immense pain the next morning, when the victim confronted the accused and told him that she would inform the relatives, he threatened to kill her. Owing to the unbearable pain, she eventually disclosed the incident to her aunt who immediately took her to Trombay Police Station to lodge a complaint.

Special public prosecutor R V Tiwari submitted that it was settled law that evidence of the sole victim of rape was sufficient to hold the accused guilty. “In this case, the medical report and other circumstances, which are brought on record thoroughly corroborates the evidence adduced by the victim, “he added.

The defence argued that the allegations against the accused were baseless and further questioned the delay in lodging a complaint when the first incident allegedly occurred in 2019.

Rebutting this argument of the defence, the court noted, “Victim being an orphan child and under the custody of the accused, she was defenseless to resist the acts of the accused. Therefore, she could not disclose it to anyone when she was residing with the accused.”

The accused was booked for committing offence punishable under sections 376 (2)(f)(i) (being a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage the modesty of any woman) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and under sections 6 (aggravated penetrative Sexual Assault) and 10 (aggravated sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, 2012.