Court convicts man in rape case

Panaji: A North Goa court has sentenced Sanjay Naik to ten years rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs 25,000 for raping a woman under the pretext of marriage between 2017 and 2018.

Although the survivor stated that she is happily married to another man, the woman stated that she doesn’t wish to pursue the case and that the accused paid her money to settle the matter. However, the court stated that the offence of rape which is heinous in nature “cannot be settled by paying any sum or compensation”.

The court stated that the evidence on record clearly indicated that the accused was in a friendly relationship with the survivor, and on the pretext of marriage he had sexual intercourse with the woman and refused to marry her.

“The photographs and the WhatsApp messages clearly establish her case,” stated presiding officer, fast track special court (Pocso), Panaji, Durga V Madkaikar.

As per the statement given by the woman, both of them were in a relationship for nearly eight months. The woman stated that the accused promised to marry her and maintained a physical relationship. However, some months later, the accused stopped contacting her and later said that his mother was against love marriage and that he couldn’t continue the relationship.