Thane court convicts man accused of molesting teen at knifepoint

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The Thane court convicted and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment a man accused of molesting a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint, reported news agency PTI.

Special judge D S Deshmukh convicted the 34-year-old under charges of sexual harassment and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, reported PTI.

The Thane court order dated May 2 was made available on Friday.

Special public prosecutor Sandhya H Mhatre said the convict had already served a jail term of three years and eight months, which the court sentenced him to, reported PTI.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the accused, which will be given to the victim as compensation, reported PTI.

Six prosecution witnesses were examined to prove the charges against the accused.

According to the prosecution, the accused went to the girl's house in the Balkum locality on August 18, 2020, and molested her at knifepoint, reported PTI.

In another case, the police from Maharashtra's Thane city have arrested a 21-year-old man from Uttarakhand capital Dehradun for allegedly sharing the private pictures of a 13-year-old girl on the internet, an official said on Saturday, reported PTI.

Accused Rohit Kumar, originally from Saran in Bihar, had befriended the teenager from Thane on social media and allegedly accessed her nude pictures, the official said, reported PTI.

When the girl refused to continue chatting with Kumar, he shared her intimate pictures with her relatives and released them on the internet, the official said, reported PTI.

On a complaint by the girl, the Vartak Nagar police registered a case on April 1 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and IT Act and launched a probe.

Acting in various inputs, they tracked down Kumar to Dehradun and arrested him from there on Thursday, said senior inspector Rajkumar Wakchoure of Vartak Nagar police station, reported PTI.

The official said Kumar is a habitual offender and has targeted many girls similarly in the past.

(With inputs from PTI)