On Monday, a special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012) court sentenced a 72-year-old man to ten years in jail for sexually abusing four juvenile girls in his neighborhood.
Seema Jadhav, a special POCSO judge, ruled the accused guilty principally based on the victims’ testimony, which was determined to be adequately confirmed by medical evidence indicating they had been sexually molested.
The mother of one of the girls filed a complaint against the accused at the Kalachowki police station in central Mumbai. She stated that the accused, who lived in the same building and on the same level as her family, molested her younger daughter, a 7-year-old, on January 31, 2018.
The complainant alleged that the girl had gone out to play in an open space outside their building after returning from school when the accused contacted her. The victim’s mother was alerted by one of the females that the accused had brought the victim to his house. Her older sister then had to go to the accused’s house and retrieve the girl.
When the girl returned home, she told her mother that the accused had molested her and inappropriately touched her private parts. The accused was confronted by the family, but he denied the charges. Other girls came out at the time and alleged that he had molested them as well.
As a result, the family reported the instances to the police, who then charged him with a crime. On January 31, 2018, the accused was apprehended.
