Suspended cop gets 10 yrs' RI under POCSO

Mumbai: A special Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court sentenced a suspended police officer to ten years of rigorous imprisonment for sodomising a 16-year-old boy in 2014.

The accused, Vilas Kaldhone, was convicted under various sections of the POCSO Act and the Indian Penal Code.

According to public prosecutor Geeta Sharma, the night the incident occurred, Kaldhone picked up the boy who had left his brother’s house  where he was staying, vowing not to return.

The boy was standing at a road at King’s Circle when Kaldhone, who was on a motorcycle, stopped and offered to help the minor get back home.

However, rather than taking the minor home, Kaldhone allegedly took him to the terrace of a nearby building and proceeded to sodomise him. After the incident, the boy somehow managed to reach home and narrated the entire incident after which a case was registered in the Sion police station under the POCSO Act against Kaldhone.

The trial, which started in August 2014, saw various witnesses being examined, including the boy's father.  

During the trial Kaldhone, who was suspended and placed behind bars, had applied for bail on five occasions but his application was turned down each time on the grounds that he would tamper with the witnesses who were yet to be examined. On his part, Kaldhone's advocate had pleaded for his client to be let out on bail as he was the sole breadwinner of the family. However the court had said that ‘considering that prima facie serious allegations are made against the accused and still number of witnesses are to be examined, possibility of tampering cannot be ruled out’ and had rejected his bail.

After the court had recorded the statement of the minor and examined 11 witnesses during the course of the trial, the 35th additional sessions court was satisfied of Kaldhone's guilt under section 377 (Unnatural offences) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation).