A special Pocso court in Visavadar has sentenced a man to rigorous life imprisonment for raping a 15-year-old girl after blackmailing her with secretly captured nude screenshots. The court held that the accused exploited her age and trust to satisfy his lust.
Judgment Pronounced on April 30
The judgment was pronounced on April 30 by special Pocso judge H V Joshi. The court convicted the accused, Altaf Hothi, a farmer from a village in Bhesan taluka, under IPC Section 376(3) and Sections 4, 8 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The court observed that the accused took severe advantage of the victim's innocence and adolescent age. Altaf was 20 years old at the time of the offence.
Details of the Crime
According to the prosecution, about two months before the assault, Altaf contacted the girl on WhatsApp from an unknown number. After building a rapport and grooming her with 'sweet talk', he persuaded her to undress during a video call and secretly captured screenshots and screen recordings. Using these, Altaf allegedly blackmailed the girl, threatening to circulate the videos on social media and damage her family's reputation unless she agreed to a physical relationship. Driven by fear, the girl was coerced into meeting Altaf on the night of December 11, 2022. Altaf, accompanied by a minor accomplice, arrived near the victim's house on a motorcycle around 11:30 pm. He forced the girl into her backyard, repeated threats to circulate the images and kill her, and raped her, the prosecution said. The accomplice also attempted to force himself on the victim.
The court sentenced Altaf to rigorous life imprisonment, which means imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life, and also imposed a fine. The case highlights the growing menace of online grooming and blackmail targeting minors, and the need for stringent punishment to deter such crimes.
