Govandi man gets 20-year jail for raping two-year-old niece

Man from Govandi sentenced to 20 years for sexually assaulting 2-year-old niece. Court convicted him under IPC and POCSO Act. Fine of ₹10,000 imposed.

MUMBAI: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court recently sentenced a man from Govandi to 20 years in rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting his two-year-old niece in 2021.

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As per the prosecution case, the girl was residing with her parents, paternal grandparents, two uncles and an aunt. The victim and her parents would sleep on the ground floor while the others would sleep on the upper floor. To break the habit of breastfeeding, her grandmother would occasionally take her upstairs to put her to sleep with her.

On multiple occasions, one of the uncles carried her upstairs and the victim was often heard crying after that. Her mother then noticed that she was uncomfortable around the accused, the prosecution said.

On November 12, 2021, when the two-year-old cried on being taken to the washroom, her mother noticed redness, swelling and scratches in her private parts. Her grandmother suggested that it could be due to infection or a mosquito bite.

However, the family doctor told her mother that there was no infection, and it was rather serious. Worried, the mother took the child to Sion hospital where the treating doctor said that the child had been sexually assaulted because of which she had endured a three-mm laceration, the prosecution said.

Special public prosecutor Vinod More argued that the offence was serious and maximum punishment must be handed down because the child aged two years and that she would carry this stigma and trauma for the rest of her life.

Advocate Arvind Tiwari, appearing for the accused, said, “As per the criminal jurisprudence if there are two possibilities of which one is in favour of the accused then the benefit of doubt shall be given to him.” He claimed that the testimony of the prosecution witnesses was full of contradictions and infirmities.

Special judge R K Kshirsagar, however, discarded Tiwari’s argument and said there was no explanation given by the 21-year-old man as to how the injury was caused to the victim while she was accompanying him.

The court convicted the accused and sentenced him to 20 years in rigorous imprisonment for offences punishable under section 376(a)(b) (rape on women under 12 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code and section 4 (penetrative sexual assault) and 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.

The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on him and recommended compensation to the child by the District Legal Services Authority.