Kalyan: A special Pocso court on Friday sentenced a 32-year-old man to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment for the rape of a cognitively impaired minor girl in 2019.Special judge V A Patravale convicted the accused, a Jalgaon resident, for offences under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (rape) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.The 15-year-old girl, whose ‘social age’ was estimated at only four-and-half years, was found crying at Kalyan Railway Station in Thane district by a taxi driver on May 29, 2019. Medical examination found that she was five months pregnant, said additional public prosecutor R R Bhoir.Probe revealed that the accused, who was the husband of the girl’s aunt, had sexually exploited the girl at Jalgaon, and left her at the Kalyan station, more than 400 km away, when she became pregnant.DNA analysis identified the accused as the biological father of the child born to the minor in Sept 2019. The prosecution examined nine witnesses during the trial.In the detailed judgment, judge Patravale noted that the accused took advantage of the girl’s vulnerability and eventually left her at the railway station at the mercy of society “without giving a thought to what will happen to her in this city”.“Considering her mental condition, it is only the grace of God that she was found… and thus, came in the hands of proper authority where she could give birth to a child safely and could stay beyond the clutches of the wicked people in society”, the judge said. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on the accused, to be paid to the minor. The judge directed the District Legal Services Authority to award compensation to the girl, to be used for her rehabilitation, treatment, and special needs.
