A court in Maharashtra’s Thane district has pronounced a 34-year-old man guilty of sexually harassing a minor girl in 2019.
In her order passed on Wednesday, additional sessions judge and special judge (POCSO) VV Virkar convicted the accused under various sections of the Protection of Children for Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code. The court sentenced the accused to the period he has already undergone as an undertrial in the case, which is seven months, as per the prosecutor. The court also ordered the accused to pay a fine of Rs 1,000.
Special public prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale told the court that the victim, then aged 13 and a student of class 8, and the accused were residents of the same locality in Mira Road area here. The accused used to follow the victim frequently. On December 26, 2019, when the victim was returning from her classes, the accused took her near a temple and sexually harassed her, the prosecution said.
The victim informed her parents about the incident following which the accused was arrested. The judge held that the prosecution has successfully proved the charges against the accused.