Maha: Man sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping minor kin in Palghar

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A man was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court in Palghar in Maharashtra for raping his wife's brother's minor daughter several times in 2019.

He was convicted by Special Judge MS Deshpande under Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Tuesday, and details of the order were made available on Thursday.

The minor's father was a fisherman and her mother died some time ago, due to which she was in the care of her grandmother and other kin.

The accused would often rape her when no one was around and threaten her to not reveal the ordeal to anyone, as per the prosecution.

The accused was arrested after she confided in the accused's son, who in turn told her father, after which a case was filed at Gholwad police station.

In October last year, a court in Thane sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for repeatedly raping and impregnating a 14-year-old girl.

The court sentenced the accused to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on him.

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On the night of January 15, 2015, the accused came to the victim's house when she was alone and raped her. After the first assault, the accused, who was a married man, repeatedly raped the girl on several occasions for a month, they said.

Eventually, the victim's mother found out about the ordeal when the girl became pregnant. A police complaint was soon lodged and the accused was arrested, the prosecution said.

The judge in his order noted that the victim was only 14 years old at the time of incident, and she was so innocent that, she never realised that she had gotten pregnant due to the act committed by the accused.

When her family members noticed the aforesaid facts, it was too late even to terminate the pregnancy. During the trial she had given birth to a child, he said.

The judge also ordered that the victim be paid compensation once the fine amount is realised and also under the Manodhairya Scheme or any other victim compensation scheme of the government. (PTI)