Mumbai: 53-year-old gets 14 years in jail for raping minor stepdaughter

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A 53-year-old man has been sentenced to 14 years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 15,000 for raping his minor stepdaughter in April 2017. Special judge Bharti Kale convicted Farukh Mukhtar Shaikh at the Sessions Court on April 1.

The girl told the court that Shaikh used to offer snacks and spiked juice to the girl after she returned home from school. He would then rape her when she fell unconscious. In her statement to the court, the girl said, "My school timings are 6.30am to 1.30pm. My mother would go to work at Nagpada at 10.30am and return around 7 pm. My stepfather would often return home from work during lunchtime and offer money to my siblings to get them out of the house."

"He would then give me vada pav and juice and forcibly feed me when I refused. On April 14, 2017, he again offered me juice but I threw it and went to sleep. After a few minutes, he came to my bed and raped me," the girl said in her statement.

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The girl said she tried to fight him off but he threatened her with grave consequences. Sometime later, she started getting severe pain in her stomach. The local doctor told her mother that the girl was pregnant. But, the girl refused to tell anyone who the father was. It was only after she was told that her mother would be imprisoned that she spilled the beans.

The mother was shocked and immediately took the girl to Sewri police station and registered a case. The stepfather was arrested on April 18, 2017. After an abortion was performed, the DNA of the foetus and Shaikh was a positive match.

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