POCSO Court awards Ten Years Jail term to Convict for Raping Minor on promise of Marriage

On Friday, the Alibaug District Session’s Court sentenced a 22-year-old labourer to ten years’ imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl last year. The arrested accused, who allegedly befriended & promised marriage to the minor, was arrested in June 2019.

The convict, Ajay Waghmare, who is already married & has a son, had met the minor in Pen, Raigad, in April 2019. On May 31, Waghmare took the minor to Adivasiwadi in the same area & raped her.

The girl narrated the ordeal to her family members, following which they informed the police. Mandva coastal Police filed a case & arrested him on June 6. The accused has been remanded in Judicial Custody since then.

The case was on trial at the Alibaug district sessions court where seven prosecution witnesses including the minor, her mother & her uncle deposed before additional sessions judge VM Mohite.

Public prosecutor Ashwini Bandivadekar-Patil said that “Based on the deposition of the prosecution witnesses & the girl, who also supported the prosecution case, the man has been convicted".

The Court has convicted Waghmare under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code & the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act & imposed a fine of ₹5,000. 

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