Mumbai court sentences 50-year-old man to life for raping niece

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A special POCSO court has sentenced a 50-year-old man to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting his niece and impregnating her.

The court said that the act of the man is so serious that it calls for the maximum sentence and he doesn't deserve any leniency.

"The accused is relative of the prosecutrix (survivor) who has committed sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix and repeatedly committed rape on her. Further, he impregnated prosecutrix. The prosecutrix had her abortion and currently she has to reside in the shelter home of CWC (child welfare committee)," the court said in its order.

Special Judge T S Bhogte held the man guilty of rape on November 24. The detailed order was made available on Thursday.

The case against the man was registered here in July 2017. As per the prosecution, the survivor is a native of Uttar Pradesh where she had studied till Class 6.

She shifted to Mumbai in 2012 for further studies and lived with her uncle and his family.

The survivor told the court that her uncle sexually harassed her for two years by touching her inappropriately whenever there were no other persons in the house.

After Holi in March 2017, she claimed, her uncle sexually assaulted her and threatened her not to reveal it to anyone.

The man denied the allegations and said that his niece was not a minor at the time. He said they had a consensual relationship.

Rejecting his defence, the court said, "The relationship of the accused with the prosecutrix is within the degree of prohibited relationship. Under these circumstances, it is improbable that the prosecutrix (survivor) who is the niece of the accused is the consenting party for sexual relationship with the accused."

The court relied on the medical evidence which said that the girl was aged between 19 and 20. Besides, the court said there was no evidence to show that the girl was a minor at the time of the incident.

As it convicted the man, the court said the prosecution had established that he had "committed forceful sexual intercourse" with her, "repeatedly committed rape" and "threatened" the survivor to not disclose the assaults to anyone.

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