Watchman gets 7 years in jail for raping minor

The survivor claimed that in January 2014, when she went to a public toilet at night, the accused followed her and raped her. The girl later conceived and delivered a male child. The victim claimed that the accused kept assuring the family that he would marry the girl but failed to do so

MUMBAI: A special protection of children from sexual offences (POCSO) court recently sentenced a 35-year-old watchman to seven years imprisonment for impregnating a minor girl residing in his neighborhood in Goregaon East in 2014. The man was convicted after he pleaded guilty, as the trial against him did not begin even after he spent eight years in prison due to Covid-19.

Minor Rape. (File Photo: IANS) (IANS)

Charges against the man were framed in February 2019, and when the trial was scheduled to begin, lockdown was imposed due to the pandemic.

“The accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tired, and the matter was fixed for documents, and for recording evidence. Due to the pandemic, neither the accused was produced nor the evidence was recorded. But the accused sent an application from jail where he pleaded guilty and requested the court to impose a reasonable sentence,” the court said.

The court accepted his plea and handed him the minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment. “The accused has been in jail since September 25, 2014, which is more than eight years, and the trial was not concluded within a reasonable time due to the Corona pandemic, thus he pleaded guilty which is voluntarily and without any coercion, misunderstanding, and with free consent which needs to be accepted.”

The man came to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh and was working as a watchman in the city. The victim had alleged that her father also worked as a watchman in Goregaon East, and the accused used to pass by the front of their house every day, and they encountered each other frequently.

The survivor claimed that in January 2014, when she went to a public toilet at night, the accused followed her and raped her. The girl later conceived and delivered a male child. The victim claimed that the accused kept assuring the family that he would marry the girl but failed to do so. Hence, the family on September 24, 2014, registered a case, and he was arrested the next day.