Man gets 20 years for sexually assaulting minor boy during festival

Mumbai: A special Pocso court on Friday convicted and sentenced a 35-year-old man to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) for the sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy in 2021 during a festival. Delivering the verdict five years after the incident, the special judge relied on the consistent testimony of the child and medical evidence that confirmed that the child had been sodomised. Special Judge Nitin D Khose said, "The prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that, on the date, time and place of the incident, the accused committed penetrative sexual assault on the victim boy. Prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed penetrative sexual assault on the victim boy more than once or repeatedly. Prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed sexual assault on the victim boy…."The prosecution's case was that on Feb 16, 2021, the victim was watching a dance performance at a religious function in his neighbourhood. The accused caught the boy's hand and forcibly took him to his residence nearby. The boy eventually managed to escape and reached his home in a state of distress, narrating the ordeal to his mother, who then approached the police.During the trial, the defence argued that the accused was falsely implicated and suggested that the injuries noted in the medical report could have resulted from a fall. However, the judge rejected these contentions, noting that the medical officer's findings were consistent with the victim's account of the assault. The judge observed that the child's testimony was reliable and supported by the presence of a superficial tear and other physical symptoms recorded during an examination conducted within hours of the crime.While the defence claimed the victim's age could not be accurately determined through an ossification test, the judge held that the combination of the boy's testimony and medical reports sufficiently proved he was a minor under the law. The accused, who has been in custody since Feb 2021, will receive a set-off for the time spent in jail.