Man gets 7 years for abducting, sexually assaulting two minors

MUMBAI: A Special

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences

(POCSO) court convicted

Ayaz Ansari

(33) on charges of kidnapping and

sexual harassment

on Friday . The court sentenced Ansari, a resident of Andheri, to seven years' jail in two different cases--one registered at Juhu police station and another at Amboli police station--for the same offences.

In both the cases, Ansari has been convicted under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 12 of POSCO and has been ordered to pay a cumulative fine of Rs 50,000. Earlier, Ansari had been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the same court for raping a minor. Ansari, who has only one good eye as the other one was permanently damaged by a wooden splinter as a child, has nine child abduction cases registered against him at various police stations in the city.

Remarkably, in each of the cases, he has narrated to the court the same story he had used to lure the mi nors: “My name is Ra mesh; I am a friend of yo ur father; I need to give my number to your father will you come with me?“ In three of the cases, Ansari has already been acquitted.

Defence lawyer Anil Jadhav argued that because the story is exactly the same, it is highly unlikely that it was the same person committing the crime. He said that when a person commits the same crime repeatedly, he establishes a reputation in the locality. He said in Ansari's case, there was no such evidence from any witness and hence, the two cases for which he has now been convicted could not have been committed necessarily by him.

A special public prosecutor examined witnesses in both the Juhu and Amboli cases, including doctors and closed-circuit television camera operators, to prove its case. The prosecutor said that it was an offence against society and children were at risk.

Ansari had, in a written complaint to the principal judge, sought a transfer of trial to another court citing lack of faith. However, the judge declined his request.