Man gets 25-yr RI for sexually assaulting minor daughter

Pune: A special court has convicted and sentenced a 52-year-old man to 25-year rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting his school-going daughter (14) between Oct 2017 and March 2018.
The court also sentenced the accused to two years' rigorous imprisonment for sexual harassment. The two sentences would run together. The court levied a fine of Rs 25,000 on the convict and directed the district legal services authority to provide compensation to the victim.
The prosecution's case was that the girl had told her mother that she was not willing to stay with her father and had even refused to appear for SSC exams.She had narrated her ordeal after attending sessions on ‘good touch and bad touch' at school.
The mother had then approached the school and the girl was referred to NGO Muskan Foundation, which counselled the girl, collected details of the incident and convinced her to appear for the SSC exams.
The NGO had appointed lawyer Gaurak Jachak to represent the girl. Later, the Hadapsar police registered an FIR and arrested the father on April 6, 2018.
Special judge Sonal Rathod, in her judgment of Sept 9, observed that there was no matrimonial dispute between the accused and his wife because they were residing together and rejected the defence lawyer's plea that his client was implicated in a false case due to the matrimonial dispute.
The court said the evidence by the victim inspired confidence to believe the allegations made against the father.
"There is other evidence to establish the chain of events linking the accused. The mother could not understand the mental trauma undergone by her daughter and she had referred her to a counsellor. The girl had disclosed the incident of sexual assault to the school counsellor/psychiatrist on March 26," judge Rathod said.
The victim was under mental trauma for five-six months. She did not directly raise allegations against her father because she was demanding a solution to reside separately, she added.
Special public prosecutor Supriya More had relied on the evidence of seven witnesses, including the girl and the confessional statement given by her, to prove the guilt of the accused. After More's transfer, prosecutor Suchitra Narote prayed to inflict maximum punishment on the father because he was involved in a heinous crime of sexually assaulting his own daughter.