Mumbai: Rapist gets 10 years in jail for impregnating relative

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Almost two-and-a-half years after 44-year-old Jamal Basheer Shaikh was arrested for raping his 17-year-old relative multiple times and impregnating her, the sessions court sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) on Monday. The accused was arrested in August 2016 after the survivor's mother filed a complaint and a case was registered at Bandra court under POCSO Act.

Assistant public prosecutor Iqbal Solkar had sought death sentence for the accused but Additional Sessions Judge, Greater Mumbai, D S Deshmukh awarded him 10 years of RI.

After Shaikh's wife died in November 2015, the survivor started staying at his Bandra residence to look after his children. Her father said, "Shaikh is my brother-in-law. After his wife's demise we visited Mumbai and conducted her last rites. He wanted my daughter to stay there to look after his kids."

"Taking advantage of her innocence, he raped her multiple times. He even threatened her with dire consequences. Her aunt got to know about the matter when she was already 22 weeks pregnant. Soon after she delivered a baby boy, we handed him over to a shelter home," he added. Inspector Manohar Dhanawade said, "DNA tests revealed Shaikh's role in the matter and helped us get him convicted."

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