Mumbai couple in their 80s gets 10 years in jail for sexually abusing a 4year girl

GENERAL OVERVIEW

• An octogenarian couple in Maharashtra has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• The couple sexually abused a four-year-old girl in 2013.
• Special judge Rekha N Pandhare said that the couple of the child’s grandparents’ age was supposed to take care of her but instead they abused her.
• The couple’s lawyer, Dinesh Tiwari said they have moved the Bombay high court against the conviction, saying personal enmity prompted the girl’s family to file the case against them.
• The couple out on bail was sentenced under Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) which prescribes punishment for offence of “aggravated penetrative sexual assault”.

FURTHER DETAILS

• The assault took place on September 4, 2013. In her police statement, the child said she returned from school at 10 am and at noon went to the fourth floor of her building to play with her friend.
• As her friend was sleeping, she decided to return home when the couple whom she addressed as ‘dada’ and ‘dadi’ called her. The child said that the man took her inside their house and made her sit on a swing, but slapped her when she tried to leave.
• The 4-year-old alleged that the woman held her, while the man undressed her before sexually assaulting her and then the woman repeated the act. The girl also said that the man spat on her face when she tried to run but later she managed to dress up and run towards her home.
• The child’s mother in her police statement told that after she returned from her work and finished all the household chores she went to put the girl to bed around 10 pm. At this time the girl told her mother that she wanted to tell her something if she was not scolded. After the mother assured the child, the girl narrated the whole incident to her.
• The mother then checked the girl’s private part and found inflammation. The woman informed her husband and immediately complained to the police. The accused were arrested the next day.
• In the trial that began in 2017 by special public prosecutors Veena Shelar and Geeta Nayyar, seven witnesses were examined when the accused were out on bail. The child was 8 at the time of deposition.

FINAL DECISION

• The 81-year-old woman and her 87-year-old husband have been convicted and sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The special POSCO court relied on the testimonies of the child and her mother, and medical evidence, to convict the couple.
• Vidya Kasle, a former public prosecutor, said in general criminal law, it is the prosecution that has to prove a case and put-up evidence against the accused in the court. “...under [the] POCSO [Act], the burden of proof is on the accused [and] has to prove innocence before the court.”
• Prakash Salsingekar, a lawyer, said under the POCSO Act, the presumption is the accused has committed the act unless they prove their innocence. “The testimony of the victim is given a prime importance unless its credibility is questioned and proved otherwise.”
• Special judge Rekha N Pandhare ordered the accused to pay Rs 50,000 each to the child as compensation within a month.

It is probably the first case in the city where a woman has been found guilty of such a crime under the POSCO Act. What do you think about the arrest of the old couple and the order of the Court?

Let us know your views in the comment section below!