Greater Noida: Man gets 20 year jail for raping minor boy in 2014

Convict Sanjay and the victim, used to work at the same confectionery shop and both shared residential quarters near the workplace

Greater Noida: A 35-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹50,000 by a court in Surajpur for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy in Greater Noida’s Jarcha area in May 2014, prosecution officials said on Monday.

The accused has been convicted under Section 377 of IPC (unnatural sex) and Section 4 of POCSO Act (punishment for penetrative sexual assault against children) to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 4 of the POCSO Act. (Representational image)

According to special public prosecutor Chavanpal Bhati, convict Sanjay (single name) and the victim, used to work at the same confectionery shop and both shared residential quarters near the workplace.

During the court proceedings, Sanjay’s lawyer Manoj Tevatia argued that the main witness of the alleged incident was the victim himself and not the complainant (his father). He also underlined that the medical examination did not confirm the fact of unnatural sex.

On Saturday, Saurabh Dwivedi, special judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act, however, relied on the testimonies and medical evidence and convicted Sanjay.

“The accused Sanjay has been convicted under Section 377 of IPC (unnatural sex) and Section 4 of POCSO Act (punishment for penetrative sexual assault against children) to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 4 of the POCSO Act. Additionally, the convict is fined ₹50,000 and the time spent by him behind bars will be included in the sentence,” the judge ordered.

The incident was reported at the Jarcha Police Station by the victim’s father on May 27, 2014.

According to special public prosecutor Bhati, the boy’s father stated in his police complaint that his son had stayed over at the living quarters at the confectionery shop the previous night as he had closed the shop.

In the morning, the father visited the confectionery shop, about 500 metres from his residence, to meet his son. But the boy told him that Sanjay raped him at night. The victim and his father then visited the police station to submit a complaint, he added.

Following the complaint, a first information report was registered against Sanjay, aged 25 at the time, under section 377 (Unnatural offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of POCSO at the Jarcha Police Station.

“The same evening, Sanjay was arrested and produced before a local court and sent to judicial custody. A charge sheet was filed against him on June 28, 2014 while the case went to trial on May 21, 2015,” the prosecutor said.

The prosecution produced five witnesses including the father of victim, victim, medical examiner, investigating officer and a sub-inspector also part of the investigation.

During the trial, the victim’s father told the court that his son started working at the confectionary shop about one and a half months before the incident.

“My son would sometimes come home and sometimes he would stay in the living quarters of the confectionery shop when he was working late. On the morning of May 27, 2014, I saw some blood on my son’s pants. When I asked him to remove it, I saw wounds on his behind. After this, my son narrated the whole incident and we came to the police,” the father told the court.

In his testimony, the victim told the court: “On the night of May 26, 2014, when I went to the room in the living quarters, Sanjay came from behind… and did wrong things with me. He intimidated and threatened me and kept me there the whole night. In the morning I told the whole incident.”

Dr Varun Kumar, who conducted the boy’s medical examination, said that the victim had injury marks on his private parts without presence of any spermatozoa. The medical examiner testified in front of the court that “No definitive opinion can be given regarding sexual assault”.