Palghar, Oct 9 A court in Maharashtra’s Palghar district has sentenced a 55-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting his seven-year-old daughter at their home.
In a judgment delivered on October 5, a copy of which was made available on Friday, Special Judge A H Kashikar also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the convict.
The crime came to light on November 3, 2020, when neighbours at a housing society in Vasai West contacted an NGO, reporting that a minor girl had been crying, screaming and shouting in distress late at night.
Police and members of the NGO, Ummid Foundation, rescued the girl. A case was registered against her father under the Indian Penal Code and the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
According to the prosecution, the man met a woman while he was in Denmark, and the two got married. Their daughter was born there, but the couple subsequently decided to separate. While their divorce proceedings were underway, the man returned to India, with the girl staying with her mother in Denmark.
The man later obtained custody of his daughter and brought her to Vasai.
Special Public Prosecutor Jaiprakash Patil examined 10 prosecution witnesses to prove the charges against the accused.
Referring to the evidence before it, the court said the man hit his daughter every day and made her feel that she was not a “good child and no one would accept her”.
“Therefore, the victim felt that the accused was the only person who loved her. Thus, she seemed to have believed that whatever he did was right. It is very apparent that the accused used his position of trust to sexually assault the minor victim over a period of time,” the judge said.
The court also observed that the child categorically stated that no one except her father had touched her private parts.
“Moreover, all witnesses have deposed that the victim alone was residing with the accused,” the judge said, noting that the child did not know English or the local languages.
The court convicted the man under POCSO and sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
