Raigad court sentences 35-year-old rapist of minor girl for 20 years RI

The man made the 13-year-old school girl believe that she was his wedded wife by making her wear a mangalsutra.

Navi Mumbai

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Two years after a 35-year-old man was arrested for raping a 13-year-old school going girl by convincing her that she was his wife by making her wear a mangalsutra, a local court has convicted the accused and sentenced him for 20 years rigorous imprisonment.

The accused identified as Dyaneshwar Dhavji Thakur, a high school passout employed as a workman in a company at Nagothane in Raigad district, had reportedly raped the minor girl twice. According to police, the girl had a troubled childhood and was neglected by her mother. After losing her father as a child, her mother had abandoned her and remarried. During the course of the case, the mother had never come in touch with the investigating agency. She was taken care of by her paternal uncle and aunty.

The victim, who stayed in the same area as that of the accused, was in his custody from April 21 to May 6 of the year 2021. The aunty of the victim had registered a case of kidnapping with Nagothane police after the girl went missing. “The wife of the accused had herself told us that he had kidnapped the girl and we finally traced him in a Pen. The girl was in his custody and we rescued her. The accused had put a mangalsutra in her neck and made her believe that they got married and raped her,” a police officer from Raigad police said.

There were a total of eight eyewitnesses in the case. “The statement of the victim herself along with that of the medical officer and the eye witness who saw the girl being rescued from the custody of the accused, played the most crucial part in the evidence that lead to the conviction,” Public prosecutor Smita Dhumal Patil, said.

The accused was convicted by Raigad Special session court under POCSO Act on Monday. The accused was found guilty under the sections of 363 (kidnapping) and 376 (rape) of the IPC and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).