Senior citizen jailed for 20 years for raping 10-year-old girl

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A 65-year-old man was imprisoned for 20 years for raping a 10-year-old girl, police said. A report in the Indian Express said that the man was found guilty by the court for sexual assault under the relevant sections of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act and awarded the sentence.

Although the victim denied the sexual assault claim by the prosecution, the court considered the statement from others that included an eye-witness who saw the man raping the minor.

The prosecution established that on April 18, 2018, one of the neighbours saw the man raping the minor, who stays with her grandmother. The eyewitness alerted another neighbour, who responded with the claim of seeing the child with him a few months ago, did not speak up fearing confrontation.

The neighbours took the child to confidence and asked about the incident. According to the prosecution, the child told the neighbours that the accused would lure her with snacks and sexually assault her.

The neighbour then informed the girl's father and filed a case against the man. Meanwhile, the accused had denied committed the crime, calling the case, 'false'. He claimed that the neighbours were avenging the quarrel they had, a few months before the incident, over installing an AC in the common passageway.

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