Bombay HC affirms verdict in sodomy case

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has upheld the conviction and 10-years sentence awarded to a 28-year-old man for sodomising and sexually assaulting three minor boys at a boarding house run by him in Pune district.

Justice A.M. Badar last week dismissed an appeal filed by the accused, Bansidhar Ghumare, challenging a June 2015 order of a Pune sessions court convicting and sentencing him to 10 years imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, the alleged incident took place between October 2013 and January 2014. On January 27, 2014, the victims discussed about the incident with each other following which one of them called his parents and informed about the assault. The parents of the other two boys were also informed, following which an first information report (FIR) was lodged.

The accused, in his ap-peal challenging conviction, claimed that he was being falsely implicated in the case, as the boys disliked the fact that he used to discipline them.

Justice Badar, in his order, noted that the victims were admitted to the boarding house by their parents so that, apart from normal studies, they could also get benefits of religious studies. “Hence, it can be held that the victims of the crime in question are from a tradition-bound society where such type of sex is still a taboo.”

The court added that such incidents instill a sense of shame and casts a stigma on the victim. “In such a situation, it is hard to believe that just because the victims were fed up of staying in the boarding house they would make such serious allegations against the accused,” the court said.

The court also relied on medical examination rep-orts of the three victims, which showed that they were subjected to penetrative sexual assault.

The accused was holding a position of trust and authority over the victims and he (accused) took advantage of this, the high court observed.