Mumbai: Observing that it is well-established that in cases of sexual assault involving minors, delay in FIR is often natural due to social stigma, fear, and attempts at mediation, refusing to give the benefit of the delay to the accused, a special Pocso court on Saturday convicted and sentenced a 33-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for the repeated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl working as a domestic help at his home and getting her pregnant.The court also convicted his 45-year-old sister-in-law and sentenced her to one year in jail for her role in attempting to conceal the crime by falsifying the victim’s identity during medical check-ups. “…the promise of marriage and medical expenses was clearly a ploy to prevent legal recourse, which explains the delay in the FIR. Here, the delay does not appear to be used for “concocting” a story, as the pregnancy and subsequent birth of a child are “hard facts” that cannot be fabricated,” said special judge RJ Pawar.The child’s ordeal began in Nov 2020, when she was sent by her mother to the home of the accused to assist with household chores while his wife was away at their native village. Special public prosecutor Geeta Sharma established that the accused repeatedly raped the girl and the matter came to light only after a neighbour found that the girl’s abdomen was enlarged. The crime remained hidden until June 13, 2021, when a neighbor noticed the young girl’s enlarged abdomen. A subsequent pregnancy test confirmed the victim was pregnant, leading her to disclose the months of abuse she had suffered.The victim testified that the man locked the door, gagged her, and committed forcible intercourse on multiple occasions, threatening to kill her family if she spoke out.During the trial, the court relied heavily on DNA evidence which confirmed that the primary accused was the biological father of the child delivered by the victim in Oct 2021. Regarding the scientific findings, the judge noted, “DNA when proved with due procedure cannot be challenged.” The judgment further noted that the minor’s testimony was credible despite defence arguments regarding the lack of immediate outcry in a crowded neighborhood, attributing her silence to being “terrorized” by death threats.The second accused, the man’s sister-in-law, was found guilty of taking the victim to a fertility center and registering her under a fictitious name to hide her identity and minority. The judge observed that this act “was clearly intended to mask the victim’s identity and age to avoid legal scrutiny.” She was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment for cheating by personation and six months for failing to report the offense.The court directed that the matter be placed before the District Legal Services Authority to ensure the victim receives compensation. While the primary accused received a 20-year term and a fine, the court granted him a set-off for the period already spent in judicial custody since his arrest in September 2021. The sister-in-law was ordered to surrender her bail bond to serve the remainder of her sentence.
