Mumbai, June 29: A
Mumbai court on Monday sentenced a 33-year old man to five years imprisonment
for continuous sexual harassment of a minor girl who committed suicide seven years
ago.
The accused has
already undergone more than seven years of imprisonment as an undertrial.
A special court
convicted the accused for sexually harassing his 13-year-old neighbour for a
prolonged period. But the accused was acquitted on charges of rape and abetment
to suicide.
The 33-year-old man
was also directed to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Information Technology
Act for showing four minors obscene videos.
In July 2014, the
13-year-old girl was rushed to a hospital in Bhandup after she suffered severe
burns. Police claimed that a note was found in one of her notebooks stating
that one of her neighbours had shown her and three other girls obscene photos
and videos, then sexually assaulted them multiple times, a court report said.
The victim died within
a few days and the man was charged with abetment to suicide, rape and sexual
assault along with relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act.
During the trial, the
prosecution examined the three other girls, who were also sexually assaulted.
Special public prosecutor Pranjali Joshi said the main evidence against the man
was the statements of the three minor girls.
Defence lawyer Prakash Salsingikar said a handwriting expert had deposed that the writing in the note found by police did not match that of the girl’s handwriting in two out of three samples. Salsingikar had argued before the court that this shows that there was no abetment to suicide, and since none of the victims had complained about rape, that charge too cannot be proven.