HC upholds 14-year jail term for 30-year-old who sexually exploited 8 minor girls

The case began in 2015 when advocate Manisha Tulpule, then president of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Raigad, was informed by a teacher that girls at a nearby orphanage were being sexually abused

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court last week upheld the 14-year jail term given to a 30-year-old man for sexually exploiting eight minor girls, some as young as 10 and 11, at an orphanage run by his father in Chambharli village, Khalapur tehsil.

The Bombay High Court last week upheld the 14-year jail term given to a 30-year-old man for sexually exploiting eight minor girls, some as young as 10 and 11, at an orphanage run by his father in Chambharli village, Khalapur tehsil. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The court, however, cleared his brother of all the charges against him and allowed their 51-year-old mother to be released based on the time she had already spent in custody after her arrest in June 2015.

The case began in 2015 when advocate Manisha Tulpule, then president of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Raigad, was informed by a teacher that girls at a nearby orphanage were being sexually abused. A CWC officer then visited the orphanage and found that it was being run without the required permissions. The CWC immediately took all the children into its custody.

After being moved out of the orphanage, several girls reported that they had been abused by the owner’s sons. The police then filed a case against the two brothers and their mother at the Rasayani police station in early May 2015 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

On March 3, 2020, a Panvel court found all three guilty. One of the brothers was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment for repeatedly raping and physically abusing several minor girls. His brother was sentenced to ten years for sexual exploitation and other offences under POCSO. Their mother received a one-year sentence for not reporting the abuse to the police even though the girls had approached her.

All three then appealed to the high court claiming the allegations against them were false. On Friday, Justice RM Joshi rejected the brothers’ appeal after finding that the girls had clearly described what happened to them in court, and their statements were strong enough to prove his guilt. However, the high court found contradictions in the statements of the two girls who had accused the other brother, and acquitted him since the evidence against him was not reliable.

The court also released their mother saying that the two-and-a-half months she had spent in jail after her arrest was enough, given that she is 51-years-old and has no prior criminal history.