Man gets 20-year prison sentence for raping minor

Mumbai: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act court on Thursday convicted a man for raping a four-year-old girl in 2016, and sentenced him to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment as per the 2018 amendment to section 376. As per the amendment, an accused found guilty of raping a girl below 12 years of age can be awarded a minimum of 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment.

Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences court Judge M.H. More convicted and sentenced Kasim Shaikh (51) to 20 years’ imprisonment.

According to public prosecutor Jyoti Sawant, the family of the accused and the victim used to live in the same building. The victim used to go to the accused’s house to play with his minor daughter but a fortnight before the incident, the accused’s wife and daughter had gone to their native place. In August 2016, the victim refused to go to the accused’s house saying that he would beat her but the accused told the victim’s mother that she wasn’t studying which is why he shouted at her. He told the mother of the victim to send her to his house as he would help her study.

A few days later, on August 25, 2016, at 2 pm, the accused took the victim to his house on the pretext of helping her with her studies but when the victim’s mother went to the accused’s house and peeked inside, she saw that the victim’s shorts had been pulled down and that the accused was molesting her. She was so shocked that she could not say anything and took her daughter back to her house.

Later, when she took the victim into confidence, the latter told her that the accused had indulged in such acts even in the past. The mother tried to call her husband on the phone but failed. In the evening when her husband returned from work, she informed him about the incident and a complaint was filed.