Palghar, A court in Maharashtra’s Palghar district has sentenced a 34-year-old man from Nepal to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for kidnapping a minor girl to his country and subjecting her to aggravated penetrative sexual assault there.
Event Context
Additional Sessions Judge A R Rahane found Narendrabahadur Gorakhbahadur Pande guilty under section 363 of the Indian Penal Code and section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Team Analysis
Rejecting the defence counsel’s argument that there was a consensual love affair between the accused and the victim, the court said since the girl was a minor, her consent held no legal validity.
The court sentenced Pande to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹5,000 under section 6 of the POCSO Act. He was also sentenced to five years of simple imprisonment and a fine of ₹1,000 under section 363 of the IPC.
Special public prosecutor Sanjay More said seven prosecution witnesses, including the victim, were examined to prove charges against the accused.
The victim, then a 13-year-old resident of Boisar in Palghar district, was acquainted with the accused as they had previously resided in the same neighbourhood in Mumbai’s Borivali area, the prosecution said.
On June 20, 2018, Pande called the victim to Boisar railway station and took her to his native village in Nepal, where he kept her there for a month. He repeatedly sexually assaulted her there despite knowing that she was a minor.
During the trial, the defence counsel argued that there was a consensual love affair between the accused and the victim.
Rejecting the argument, the court underscored that the victim was a minor when the incident occurred, and that her consent held no legal validity.
In the judgment, Additional Sessions Judge Rahane observed, “It is not unusual for girl students in India to drop out of the school, take gap and again take admission in the school. In light of the queries put to victim in cross-examination, if she would have been in Class XII on 04/11/2022 and incident took place four years ago, then victim would naturally be in Class VIII in 2018 – when incident occurred.”
“Considering the usual age of admission of students in school, a student studying in Class VIII is of 13 years. This is precisely the age told by the victim’s father while lodging the FIR. Even from the victim’s birth date recorded in the school register and school leaving certificate, victim’s age comes to 13 years as on the day of incident. As such, there is no ambiguity about victim’s minority on the day of incident,” it said.
Addressing the defence’s argument regarding mutual consent, the judge noted, “The victim has admitted in cross-examination that there was love affair between victim and accused for one year and they used to have physical relations in room of accused. However, since it is proved that victim was minor at the relevant time, she could not have consented legally for physical relations with accused. Her consent is immaterial for the purpose of law. She had specifically told accused that she was minor. Still, accused had physical relations with her.”
Citing some judgements by the Supreme Court, it said, “It is proved from evidence on record that, accused conveyed minor victim beyond limits of India to his village in Nepal without consent of parents of the victim. It is also proved from evidence on record that accused has committed aggravated penetrative sexual assault upon the minor victim.”
The court also directed that a proposal be forwarded to the District Legal Services Authority , Thane, for providing financial compensation to the victim under the Manodhairya Scheme.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
source
Following a complaint by the victim’s father, Boisar police tracked Pande to Haryana via mobile location. The convict disclosed the victim’s location, leading to her rescue from Tamali on the border in Uttarakhand, the prosecution said.
