Mumbai Court Sentences Man To 10 Years In Jail For Raping Friend’s Daughter

A Mumbai Special Court has sentenced a 33-year-old man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping the daughter of his friend. The court observed that sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of victims is a heinous crime and needs to be addressed effectively.

An FIR was registered against the man after the allegedly 15-year-old victim told her mother that she had a stomach ache. When they visited the hospital it was found that the victim was 4.5 months pregnant. Subsequently, when the mother inquired about it, the daughter said that the convict had sexually assaulted her and had threatened to kill her if she discloses anything. She also told her mother that she was assaulted again the next week. An FIR came to be registered and the convict was booked under IPC and POCSO.

The counsel for the convict argued that the victim had not stated his name before the magistrate and also pointed out that even though the daughter had claimed that the incident took place in the month of March, the family of the victim had attended the marriage of the convict in May. He also argued that the age of the victim was questionable since there was overwriting on the certificate.

The court agreed with the convict's argument and said that the prosecution could not prove that the victim was below the age of 18 years and therefore acquitted the convict under the POCSO Act.

The court, however, rejected the argument that the family had attended the convict's wedding. Court said,

“In my opinion, attending the marriage ceremony of the accused by the victim and her family members is no ground to disbelieve the version of the victim as she consistently deposed that she was threatened by the accused if she disclosed the incident to anyone. The defence of false implication of the accused is thus not proved on record.”

The victim, in her examination, had stated that she was not in love with the convict. The court noted that such offences are committed in secrecy and the man had threatened to kill her, therefore, there were no reasons to disbelieve her version.

The court after taking on record the DNA report which showed that the man was the biological parent of the victim's child, convicted the man under IPC and sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.

Since the man had already undergone 6 years of imprisonment the same was set off.

Case Title: State of Maharashtra vs Manoj Kamla Chouhan

Statue: Indian Penal Code 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and POCSO Act 2013