Kandivali man gets 12-year jail term for sexually harassing minor nephew

MUMBAI: A special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) court on August 21 convicted a 55-year-old man for sexually abusing his 11-year-old nephew who has a neurological disorder. The accused, a Kandivali resident, was sentenced to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment.
“The accused had succumbed to his baser desires and instincts and did not even bother about the fact that the victim boy was sick and that he was the son of his relative and friend. The acts committed by the accused were, therefore, clearly an abuse of the trust placed upon him by the father of the victim boy,” the court said while sentencing the man.
The accused used to live with the boy’s family in Kandivali. On March 16, 2017, the survivor reported to his father about his inappropriate behaviour with him for the first time. When questioned, the accused fought with the boy’s father, claiming that the accusations were false. Despite this, the father issued a warning to him and told him to maintain a distance from his son.
Four days later, the accused allegedly sexually harassed the 11-year-old again, after which the boy’s father filed a complaint with the Samata Nagar police station. An FIR was registered against the accused, charging him with “unnatural sex” under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and sections 6 (sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment of a child) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
During the trial, assistant public prosecutor AA Deotarse argued that the accused had victimised a minor, who was his relative, and continued his actions despite being reprimanded by the boy’s father. Given that the survivor already had an illness, he contended that the accused’s actions would have had a significantly adverse impact on the boy. Consequently, he requested the imposition of the maximum possible punishment for the accused.
Advocate Siddharth Desai, representing the accused, argued that the case against his client was a result of false implication. He claimed that the boy’s father had refused to return money borrowed from the accused for his daughter’s wedding. He added that the accused was staying as a tenant at his father’s house, and disputes arose due to his inability to pay the full rent. Desai also said the boy was suffering from delusions and hallucinations, which may have led to the “imagined incidents”.
Special judge SJ Ansari, however, refused to accept the defence. The court said the boy had a neurological condition that causes fainting spells, so it could not be said that the complaint stemmed from delusions or hallucinations. Moreover, the accused failed to substantiate his contention of false implication due to financial disputes, the court added.
“Small children like the victim boy, who was already sick, would have certainly been traumatised by the acts to which he had been subjected by the accused. A message, therefore, must be sent to the public at large that the offences of sexual assault upon minors of any gender will not be tolerated at all,” said the court.