Gujarat man gets 20 years in jail for sodomizing 11-year-old

Ahmedabad: A special Pocso court on Wednesday sentenced a 30-year-old man from Vagad village in Dhandhuka taluka to 20 years in prison for sodomizing an 11-year-old boy.According to the prosecution, the accused, Kamlesh Vaghela, took the child to a lake in nearby Loliya village for a bath when the boy's family was visiting Vagad, their native village, in Oct 2024. The family lives in Surat. During the bath, Vaghela sodomized the boy and later threatened him against revealing anything about it. The child informed his family and was taken to hospital for treatment. The boy's father filed a complaint at Dhandhuka police station, after which Vaghela was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. After the trial, additional sessions judge B S Mehta of the Ahmedabad rural court found Vaghela guilty and awarded him a 20-year prison term. In its order, the court said that although the accused was 30 years old and a long prison term could cause him trauma or expose him to hardened criminals, "the court is here to do justice and to punish the offender when the offence is proved against him". The court also directed that the victim be paid Rs 4 lakh in compensation, noting that the child "had shown courage in reporting the crime" and that his action may have "helped prevent a more serious crime".