Chandigarh: Man, aide get 20 years in jail for raping minor friend

The court of additional district and sessions judge Poonam R Joshi also imposed a fine of Rs 1.05 lakh each on the convicts.

A district court in Chandigarh on Thursday awarded two men 20 years in jail for kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old Himachal Pradesh girl.

(Representative Image)

The court of additional district and sessions judge Poonam R Joshi also imposed a fine of Rs 1.05 lakh each on the convicts, Salman, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, and Ganga Kumar, a resident of Faidan village, Chandigarh.

They were charged under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 4 (penetrative sexual assault) and 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act.

In her complaint to the police in November 2017, the victim said she was friends with Salman. On being invited by him, she came to Chandigarh to go out with him for shopping. But he took her to his room, where he confined her and raped her. Salman later called his friend Ganga, who also raped her.

She managed to escape the room one day, but Salman caught up with her at a park and beat her up. Someone noticed him, and called up the child helpline. A counsellor reached the spot to rescue the victim, following which Salman fled the scene.

The victim narrated her sexual assault to the child helpline, following which an FIR was registered against the duo on November 5, 2017, and they were arrested.