Child sexual abuse is a grim crime that leaves victims and survivors with long-term effects on their physical, social, and psychological well-being. This latest case from Mumbai has left people across the country horrified.
As per a report in TOI, on September 4, 2013, a four-year-old child narrated her ordeal of being abused by an elderly couple to the police.
She recalled that she was returning from a friend’s home when the elderly couple called her. She referred to the 87-year-old man and his 81-year-old wife as dada and dadi. The old man took the child to his home and slapped her when she tried to leave. The child further alleged that the old woman held her while the man sexually assaulted her. She said that the woman also repeated the act.
After she was let go, the child ran to her house and revealed the entire incident to her mother later that day. Her mother found inflammation on the girl’s private parts. Subsequently, a complaint was lodged and the accused were arrested the very next day. But they were soon released on bail.
Now in 2021, the court convicted the couple under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act. The judgment was based on the medical evidence, and the testimonies of the child and her mother. The court additionally remarked that the accused, being the age of the child’s grandparents, were supposed to take care of her, but instead sexually assaulted her.
The couple has finally been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. Judge Rekha N Pandhare pronounced the judgment and also ordered the sentenced couple to pay Rs 50,000 each to the child as compensation within 1 month.
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