Korba, 8 February (H.S.): Additional Sessions Judge FTSC (POCSO) has sentenced the accused, who entered the house and assaulted, molested, and abused a 15-year-old minor girl, to 4 years of rigorous imprisonment, and three other youths who assisted him were sentenced to 6 months of imprisonment each late last evening.

According to the police report submitted in the court in this regard, the incident took place around 4 pm on 28 April 2022 under Rampur Police Outpost (present Civil Line Police Station Rampur). Somnath Agarwal (19 years), resident of Pt Ravishankar Shukla Nagar; Rahul Patel (18 years), resident of Mudapar; Ajit Beck (21 years), resident of Krishnanagar, Manikpur, and Aman Parvez (21 years), resident of Navdha Chowk. Mudapar forcefully entered the house of a 15-year-old minor residing in this area. Abused the minor victim as well as her relatives. Used force on her and pulled her towards himself by holding her hand. On protesting, he beat up the relatives and threatened to kill them. The victim lodged a report of the case at Rampur police station along with her relatives. On this, the police registered a case under sections 452, 354, 294, 323, 34, 506, and section 10 of the POCSO Act, and after investigation, all the accused were arrested and presented in the court.

Special Public Prosecutor Sunil Kumar Mishra, pleading on behalf of the government, said that the hearing of this case was held in the court of Additional Sessions Judge FTSC (POCSO) Dr. Mamta Bhojwani. On being convicted, the court sentenced Somnath alias Somu Agarwal to 2 years under section 354, 4 years of rigorous imprisonment under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012, and a fine of Rs. 3000 each. In case of non-payment of the fine, an additional punishment of 3 months of rigorous imprisonment has been decided. Apart from this, all the remaining accused, including Somnath, have been sentenced to 6 months of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2 each under section 451. In case of non-payment of the fine, an additional punishment of 2 months imprisonment has been decided.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar