Man gets 14-year jail term for raping minor niece

A man has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences court in Mumbai for repeatedly raping his minor niece. The man had sought leniency, but the judge refused, stating that he had committed a very serious offence. The girl was under his guardianship and was repeatedly subjected to intercourse until she became pregnant. The man was arrested and charged with sexual assault. His defence, which included claims that the girl was in a relationship with another person, was rejected by the court.

MUMBAI: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court last week sentenced a man to 14 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting his minor niece.

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The 47-year-old Kandivali resident had sought leniency, claiming that he was a married man with children. However, special judge SJ Ansari refused to grant him any leniency, observing that he was found to have committed a very serious offence of having repeatedly raped his minor niece when she was under his guardianship.

“The girl had not even reached the age of 16 years when the accused had repeatedly subjected her to intercourse for satisfying his lust,” the court observed.

As per the prosecution case, the girl’s mother had died when she was very young. The girl was brought up by her mother’s family as her father had remarried. The prosecution claimed that her father never looked after her until she was 15 years old.

In November 2015, the girl’s father took her to reside with him. In April 2016, he sent her to Mumbai with his brother—the accused—to help him with household work.

Fifteen days after her arrival in the city, her aunt had to visit Ahmedabad. The girl claimed that as soon as her aunt left for Ahmedabad, the accused began misbehaving with her and touching her inappropriately. She said one night when everyone else was sleeping, the accused sexually assaulted her.

The girl said that when her aunt returned, she narrated the episode to her, but the woman shouted at her, saying her husband would not do any such thing. The accused on the other hand continued to rape her when none was around.

When the girl got pregnant and the accused found it, he took her to Ahmedabad and left her on the road in front of her grandfather’s house. Her grandfather later dropped the girl at her maternal aunt’s house where she confided in her.

The family later registered a case with the police, which was eventually transferred to the Kandivali police, and the accused was arrested.

The girl later gave birth to a male child. The DNA fingerprinting excluded the accused as being the father of the baby boy. The court, however, said that the accused cannot be absolved from the charges levelled against him based on the DNA report.

“It will also have to be noted that a woman in a tradition-bound society is extremely reluctant to admit to any incident likely to reflect upon her chastity. This is because, in a patriarchal society as in our country, everyone is quick to blame the girl/woman involved in any incident of rape rather than hold the accused responsible for the heinous crime,” the court said.

The accused had claimed that he had not committed any sexual assault on the girl and he was falsely implicated because of the rivalry between girl’s maternal family and her father. The court rejected his defence and his claims that the girl was in a relationship with another person as the girl had denied the allegation.