A 43-year-old man was convicted for raping a 12-year-old girl and sentenced to 10-years’ rigorous imprisonment by a special Pocso court on Thursday.
A 43-year-old man was convicted for raping a 12-year-old girl and sentenced to 10-years’ rigorous imprisonment by a special Pocso court on Thursday.
According to the prosecution, the accused, Babu alias Prabhakar Sakharam Karve, was on friendly terms with the victim’s father because he was the one who had shown the family a house on rent where they were able to reside. Babu used to visit the victim’s house and play with her younger brother and her and hence, they were comfortable with him.
On February 5, 2013, too, Babu had gone to the victim’s house in the afternoon when she was alone as her father was on duty and her mother had gone to the hospital. Although the victim’s younger brother had returned home from school, Babu, sent him out by giving him Rs 5 and asking him to buy anything that he wished.
Once Babu had the victim all to himself, he first made her sit on his lap and touched her inappropriately and later forced himself on her, despite objection from her. All the while, he closed her mouth so that she could not shout for help. After committing the rape, Babu, threatened the victim of dire consequences if she told anybody about the incident.
Owing to fear, the victim did not reveal anything however after three days, Babu, kept calling on her mother’s phone saying he wanted to speak to her. Suspecting something was wrong, the victim’s mother asked her to call on Babu’s mobile and keep the speaker on without telling him that her mother was listening in. During the mobile conversation, Babu, asked the girl if she had disclosed the incident to anyone.
Thereafter, a complaint was lodged at Chembur police station and subsequently, Babu was arrested. Special public prosecutor R.S. Kanojia examined nine witnesses, including the victim and her mother to prove the case against Babu, while the convict called two defence witnesses to show that he was at some other place at the time of the incident. However, special judge Dr Srishty Neelkanth convicted Babu and sentenced him to 10 years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 29,000.
