Representative image of a person in jail.
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Noida: A court in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district has sentenced a man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor girl and another five years for abducting her with an intention to compel her for marriage.
Both the punishments would run concurrently, according to the order of the Special POCSO Court Judge (First) Vikas Nagar, who also slapped a penalty of Rs 55,000 on the convict.
Greater Noida resident Mohit was accused of abducting a 16-year-old girl and then raping her in April, 2017. An FIR was registered in connection with the case at the Dankaur police station at the time under sections 363, 366 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the POCSO Act.
Both the accused and the victim belong to the same village.
While Defence Counsel Naresh Chand Gupta prayed for minimum punishment for the accused, saying he is the only earning member of his poor family and has no criminal antecedents, Special Public Prosecutor Jai Prakash Bhati argued for no leniency and maximum punishment since it was a 'very grievous offence' against a minor.
"Thorough critical examination and appreciation of evidence produced by the prosecution leads to this court to a conclusion that the produced evidence is sufficient to prove that the accused Mohit on April 3, 2017 at 11.30 am kidnapped the minor victim to compel her for marriage or illicit sexual intercourse and also committed offence of rape and penetrative sexual assault on her," Judge Nagar said in the order passed on Friday.
"Concludingly, the charged offences viz, sections 366, 376 IPC and section 4 POCSO Act are proved beyond reasonable doubt against accused Mohit. Hence, accused Mohit is liable to be convicted in these offences. As far as concerned about charged offence under section 363 IPC, since this offence is inclusive in other charged offence under section 366 IPC, therefore, accused is liable to be acquitted in offence under section 363 IPC," he added.
Accordingly, the judge ordered that the convict be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of Rs 50,000 imposed on him in offence under section 4 of POCSO Act and in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo an additional simple imprisonment of six months.
The convict was also sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of five years and a fine of Rs 5,000 in offence under section 366 of IPC and in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo an additional simple imprisonment of three months, Judge Nagar said.
"The period already spent by the convict in prison during trial shall be adjusted in the original sentence awarded to him. Both original sentences shall run concurrently," the judge ordered.
"Under Provision of section 357 of CrPC., 85 per cent of the fine imposed upon the convict shall be paid to the expenses for rehabilitation of the victim for meeting the rehabilitation expenses of the victim," he added.
During the hearing of the case, the court also found a discrepancy about the age of the victim, with her father claiming she was 13 years old at the time of the incident while her educational certificates and medico legal report showed her to be around 16 years old.
However, the court noted that in either situation, the victim was a minor at the time of the offence against her.