House help sentenced to life imprisonment for impregnating 14-year-old girl

In 2021, the father and the accused were working together as house help in Mulund

MUMBAI: A house help from Mulund was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday for raping and impregnating his co-worker’s 14-year-old daughter in 2021. Special judge A U Kadam of the special POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act) court also imposed a fine ₹10,000 on the accused.

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According to the prosecution, led by special public prosecutor Veena Shelar, the complainant is the father of the child. In 2021, the father and the accused were working together as house help in Mulund. They shared living quarters - the accused and his family occupied the hall, and the teenager and her parents lived in the bedroom.

The accused and the complainant went to work around 8am and returned by 8pm, with two hours of break in the afternoon, when they came back home for rest. During the lockdown, the accused sent his wife and two daughters, to their village, while he continued living with the complainant’s family.

“We noticed that our daughter didn’t get her periods. So, we spoke with her, but she didn’t tell us anything. Her stomach was growing visibly huge, so we were worried. On April 12, 2024, we took her to a hospital where we learnt that she was 24 weeks pregnant,” said the father in his testimony.

The daughter disclosed to her parents the truth when the doctor asked her repeatedly. She told them that the accused raped her multiple times between July 2020 and December 2020 and further threatened to kill her family members if she revealed the truth to anyone.

Subsequently, considering that the pregnancy had gone beyond the legal limit of termination, after obtaining an order from the High Court, the doctor aborted the pregnancy of the child which had already advanced to 26 weeks.

The accused was convicted for committing offence punishable under sections 376(2)(n)(i) (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and sections 4 (penetrative sexual assault), 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 8 (sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, 2012.