A Pocso court in Agra on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old man to 20 years in prison for raping a six-year-old girl in 2021. The child’s detailed testimony against the neighbour, along with medical reports, helped the court convict the man. He was also fined Rs 50,000.
Incident Details
The six-year-old rape survivor told the court that on May 11, 2021, she was flying a small kite in front of her house at a village in Agra district when her neighbour took her to the terrace on the pretext of giving her a toffee. According to her statement, the man bit her on the cheek, assaulted her private parts, and forced his genitals into her mouth.
The traumatised child returned home crying and narrated the ordeal to her family. Her father, who was in Agra city to buy medicine for a family member, filed a complaint upon his return. An FIR was initially registered under section 354 (assault or criminal force against a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with sections 7 and 8 (sexual assault - touching a child’s private parts) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
Investigation and Charges
The neighbour was arrested in May 2021 and has been in jail since. Based on the survivor’s statement and the medico-legal report by the investigating officer, IPC section 354 and Pocso sections 7 and 8 were replaced with IPC section 376 (A & B) (committing rape on a woman under 12 years of age) and sections 5 (m) and 6 of the Pocso Act (aggravated penetrative sexual assault). A charge sheet under the above sections was submitted in court on May 28. The girl’s statements were recorded under CrPC sections 161 and 164.
Court Verdict
Special prosecutor officer Madhav Sharma said, “The Pocso court judge, Dinesh Kumar Chaurasia, after reviewing all the evidence, medical reports, and the survivor’s statements, sentenced the convict to a 20-year jail term.” The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict.
