Casual worker gets 20yrs rigorous jail for repeatedly raping minor stepdaughter over six years

Kolhapur: A special court in Kolhapur on May 8 convicted and sentenced a casual worker to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for repeatedly raping his stepdaughter over a period of six years from the time she was 10 years of age and studying in Std V.The girl was fed up with continuous sexual exploitation and threats by her father, to the extent that she even contemplated death by suicide but dropped the thought on recalling a teaching in her school that suicide was no solution to problems, the court noted.Instead, she approached the Juna Rajwada police station with her woes. As the offence took place in an area under jurisdiction of the Karveer police station, the police took her there and an FIR was registered on July 5, 2019, and her stepfather was arrested the following day.The court found the accused guilty of offences under 376 (3) (rape of girl under age 16 years) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and also sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act -all related to similar offences. The court preferred to convict the accused under the IPC provisions. The accused is behind bars since his arrest on July 6, 2019, and will get the benefit of set off for the time served in prison so far, the court said.Special judge Kavita Agrawal observed, "In the present case, an innocent child become the victim of accused stepfather's lust which shows the grave mental depravity. This incident will have a devastating effect on the child's psychology and emotional well being. In view of my findings .... , prosecution has proved the case of rape and aggravated sexual assault on the minor victim beyond reasonable doubt and hence accused is required to be convicted."The stepdaughter also wrote her feelings on pages of her school notebook about what going on through her mind. The writings was confirmed by hand writing expert. "The chits on which the victim herself wrote down everything happened her along with medical examination proving sexual assault provided strong evidences for the court to grant the sentence," said Pratibha Jaykar Jadhav assistant public prosecutor who led the prosecution witnesses.