A court here in Maharashtra has
awarded three-year rigorous imprisonment to a 40-year-old man for molesting a teenage girl in 2017, observing it is an "offence against society at large".
Special (POCSO) court judge R V Tamhanekar in his order last week, said leniency in such cases would send a wrong message to society.
While pronouncing the sentence, he also imposed a fine of Rs 6,000 on the accused, Kalamuddin Mohammad Nasir Khan, who used to run a shop at Digha village in Navi Mumbai.
According to the prosecution, the accused and the 13- year-old girl were residents of the same area.
Prior to the incident, the accused had stalked the Class 5 girl on a couple of occasions and was reprimanded by her parents.
On June 23, 2017, the girl went to a public toilet, but came out crying and in a state of shock.
On being questioned by her parents, she said the accused followed her inside the toilet and molested her.
She also said that the accused threatened to harm her parents if she informed them about the incident.
The girl's parents later filed a police complaint and the accused was arrested and booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with an intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
After the incident, the girl was even afraid of going to school for some days, the prosecution told the court.
Taking strong note of the incident, the judge said though the offence appears to be committed against one victim, it is against society at large.
At present, such kind of offences are increasing in society. The reasons may be different, like previous enmity or love affair, he observed.
"But in such kind of offences, leniency cannot be shown towards the accused, otherwise there would be a wrong message to society," he said in his order.
The court also asked the district legal services authority to provide compensation to the victim, as per rules, within two months.
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