A sessions court today convicted a 45-year-old man for repeatedly sexually assaulting five minor girls and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
The Sessions Court Judge R M Joshi took a serious view of the crime and said the accused G Ramesh deserved nothing less than a life imprisonment.
The court also directed Ramesh to pay compensation of Rs 1 lakh to four victims and Rs 10,000 to another one, and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him.
Additional Public Prosecutor Ujwala Moholkar told the court that the accused, a resident of Ransheth Pada near Pelhar village in Vasai, used to call the girls to his house under some pretext or the other at varying times last year and rape them.
He would also threaten them of dire consequences if they disclosed the matter.
According to prosecution, Ramesh at times took the girls to his farm and raped them.
All the victims were in the age group of 12 to 15 years.
The incident came to the light on March 17, 2013 when one of the witnesses saw the sexual assault, following which an FIR was registered by Waliv police against Ramesh.
The prosecution said the girls were distant relatives.
The court relied on medical evidence, eyewitness account and testimony given by the victims.
Ramesh was charged under sections 376 (f) (committing rape on a woman when she is under twelve years of age), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC and under sections 4 and 8 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
