Pune: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) court in Pune has sentenced a 30-year-old tempo driver to imprisonment for life for raping and sexually assaulting his 16-year-old niece before murdering her at her Dhayari residence in Dec 2018.The case was registered at Sinhgad Road police station.Special judge S R Salunkhe, in a judgment delivered on Oct 31, convicted the man under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Pocso Act. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000, with three months’ simple imprisonment in default of payment. Special public prosecutor Anilkumar Verma appeared for the prosecution.The victim, a Class XI student, lived with her parents and younger brother in Dhayari. Her father worked as a carpenter and her mother as a labourer. The convict, who worked as a tempo driver and resided in Narhe, was the husband of the victim’s maternal aunt.According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on Dec 6, 2018, when the victim’s parents were away at work and her younger brother was at school. The boy returned home around 5.45pm to find the door unlocked and his sister lying unconscious on the bed. The family rushed her to a hospital, where doctors declared her dead. While the initial medical examination indicated death due to smothering, the postmortem revealed compression injuries to her neck and injuries to her genital and anal regions.Police initially registered a complaint against an unidentified person. The investigation later focused on the convict after his wife, who was the victim’s maternal aunt, allegedly informed the family and police about his involvement. The prosecution also relied on CCTV footage from a bungalow opposite the victim’s building, which her father identified as showing the accused approaching the premises.The prosecution further cited his visit to the family two days before the murder. The victim’s mother told the court that her daughter had complained about the accused sitting close to her and touching her inappropriately during the visit.The defence, represented by advocate K A Jiwani, argued that the case rested on circumstantial evidence and that the prosecution had failed to establish an unbroken chain of circumstances. It questioned the identification in the CCTV footage and pointed to inconclusive DNA findings and investigation lapses.The court acknowledged shortcomings in the investigation, including the failure to obtain the accused’s call detail records and mobile location data. It also noted that the original CCTV hard disk was blank when played in court and that the DNA findings were not interpretable. However, the judge held that the oral evidence, CCTV-related material and medical findings, considered cumulatively, established the accused’s presence at the victim’s building and his involvement in the crime.While determining the sentence, the court held that the case did not fall under the rarest of rare category warranting capital punishment. It awarded rigorous imprisonment for the remainder of the accused’s natural life under the provision dealing with aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a relative.
