Man gets sentenced to life in prison under POCSO Act

Mumbai: A special court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Thursday convicted and sentenced a 20-year-old man to life imprisonment for sodomising and attempting to murder a three-year-old boy four years ago.

According to the prosecution, the boy went missing and later his father found him with head and private parts bleeding, far away from their home. The victim was then shifted to Sion hospital.

The incident had happened in jurisdiction of the Trombay police station. Special judge M.A. Baraliya held that the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt that Hasan Sheikh alias Aehchu had kidnapped and sexually assaulted the boy and also attempted to kill him.

Public prosecutor Geeta Sharma examined 10 witnesses including the victim, his father and the doctor to prove the case.

The prosecution’s case is that the father, while searching for his son, reached a jungle where he found people gathered near a depot.

He found that the people were standing near a small child caked in mud. When he took a closer look he found out that the boy was his son. The mob gathered there told him that Sheikh was strangulating his son and had left to die. However, the public apprehended Sheikh and handed him over to the police. The father then immediately took his injured son to a nearby hospital. On doctor's suggestion there the victim was shifted to Sion Hospital.