A 39-year-old salesman from Maharashtra's Palghar district has been sentenced to 20 years in jail by a sessions court for raping his neighbour's 12-year-old daughter in 2015.
In its recent order, additional sessions court judge M P Divate also imposed fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict Ramesh Kumar Sharma and referred the case to the District Victim Compensation Board with recommendations to grant her adequate compensation.
Sharma was convicted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
As per prosecution, the case came to light in April 2015, after the girl's family found that she was one-month pregnant.
The incident occurred in March, 2015, when Sharma, who works as a salesman and resides in Nallasopara township in Palghar district, called the girl to his house under the pretext of making tea for his friends.
However, as soon as the girl entered Sharma's kitchen, he bolted the door and raped her, the court was told.
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Sharma also threatened the girl against disclosing the incident, the prosecution said.
During her submission, Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Kadambini Khandagale requested the court to hand over maximum punishment to Sharma given that the girl had become pregnant, and had to abort her foetus due to social stigma.
The defence argued that Sharma had sex with the girl following her consent.
However, judge Divate observed the question of consent was immaterial in this case, as the girl was below 16 years of age at the time of the incident.
"The prosecution has proved that the age of the victim was 12 years and 10 months on the day of the incident. As she was below 16 years, her consent is immaterial. This was a heinous crime, which is against society," the judge stated in the order.
"The accused had taken advantage of his neighbourhood and acquaintance with the victim. Facts and circumstances indicate that this is not a fit case to take a lenient view while awarding the sentence. If a lenient view is taken, then it will amount to misplaced sympathy," it said.
The judge stated that Sharma was being sentenced under section 376(3) of the IPC.
As per Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 2018, a new clause 3 was added to section 376 (Punishment for rape) of the IPC which prescribes minimum punishment of 20 years to a person committing rape on a girl under 16 years of age.