Pune: A special court for POCSO Act in the city has convicted and sentenced a 37-year-old tempo driver from Karvenagar to life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life for brutally raping his three-year-old stepdaughter on the night of Feb 5, 2018.“The brutality of the assault was such that the survivor had to undergo reconstructive surgery on her private part and she was in hospital for three months,” the prosecution brought to the court’s notice.Special judge Kavita Shirbhate primarily considered this serious nature of offence while sentencing the convict on Wednesday (Sept 10) to life for the remainder period of his natural life under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.The judge observed at the point of sentence, “Victim was 3 years old at the time of the incident. Medical papers produced on record show the serious nature of injuries on her person. According to the medical officer, medical treatment was given to the victim by giving anesthesia to the victim as she was having unbearable pain.”“The prosecution has proved fundamental facts of this case. There is no specific and cogent defence on the part of accused (aged 30 years at the time of the incident) to rebut the evidence of prosecution witnesses,” the judge said with reference to the evidence recorded by nine prosecution witnesses and the arguments by the state’s special prosecutor Nitin Ronghe and lawyer Gaurav Jachak for the survivor’s mother on one side and the defence lawyer on the other side.The accused has been in jail for seven years and seven months since his arrest after his wife lodged a complaint with the police. The court also directed the Pune district legal services authority to initiate steps to provide compensation to the survivor as per rules under the state’s Manodhairya scheme.The survivor’s mother and the accused had a second marriage two months prior to the incident and were living together with the girl and the two children the accused had from his first wife.The prosecution’s case was that between 9pm on Feb 5, 2018, and 12.30am on Feb 6, 2018, the accused forcibly took the survivor with him on a two-wheeler after assaulting the girl’s mother as she resisted him from taking away her daughter.When the accused returned home, the mother found injury marks on the survivor as she was crying in pain. The mother took the girl for medical treatment where it was confirmed that the girl was sexually assaulted. The mother then lodged a complaint and the police arrested the accused the same morning.During trial, the accused took a defence that he had met with a road accident in which the girl sustained injuries. The court, however, noted that his defence was not supported by the medical evidence as well as the deposition, regarding the nature of injuries, by the medical officers who examined her.
