MUMBAI: Following the 2019 the Pocso court order, the three cops were booked under the Child Marriage Act and section 19 of the Pocso Act, which deals with failure to report sexual offences. The case against them is stayed by the HC.
The survivor’s father told the court that the shop where the rape took place was close to his house. He said that while the main accused worked in the shop, the second accused and his brother ran the shop. The father further said that he had separated from the survivor’s mother in 2010. In 2013, his children went to a fair and met their mother. The mother called him and said that she had asked the girl why her stomach was bloated, but got no answer. Her mother then took her for a sonography that showed the minor was eight months pregnant. The survivor then alleged that the two men drugged and repeatedly raped her in 2012. They had also threatened to kill her father and brother if she told anyone what had happened.
Special public prosecutor Geeta Sharma cited the evidence of 13 witnesses, including the survivor and her father, to seek the conviction of the first accused. The prosecution also submitted that DNA evidence showed he was the father of the child. Special Pocso judge Bharti Kale also fined him Rs 20,000. He has been in jail since his arrest in July 2014. His sentence will be set off against time spent in prison as an undertrial.
The other parties in the case — the brother of an accused and two locals were acquitted of charges of failing to report offences against a minor under the Pocso Act. They were also found not guilty for offences under the Child Marriage Restraint Act.
While the trial commenced, with the survivor and her father deposing as witnesses in 2018 against two suspects and three others accused of abetment, based on their detailed testimonies, an application was made on their behalf by advocate Wesley Menezes to add the cops as accused.
