PANAJI
A 35-year-old man from Baina, Vasco, who was arrested in June 2015 for raping his stepdaughter for five years, has been sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment by Goa Children's Court. He has also been fined Rs 2 lakh for the heinous offence.
Children's Court convicted the man under Section 376 (2) (f) (i) and (n) (raping a girl under 12 years of age) of IPC, Section 8 (2) (child sexual abuse) of Goa Children's Act, 2003 and Section 4, 6 and 12 (sexual assault and sexual harassment on a child) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
The victim's mother has also been sentenced to two years imprisonment and has been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh after she was convicted under the Children's Act for child abuse. The Court held that the mother committed psychological abuse on the child by getting her employed as domestic help instead of providing her an environment to nurture her development as a child and by denying her of the basic right to
education.
The mother was aware of her husband's acts but failed to report the same to the Special Juvenile Police unit or to the local police.
However, affording her the benefit of doubt, the Court acquitted her of the charge of selling at Rs 10,000 each her other two daughters, fathered by the accused husband as the police failed to trace the persons, who allegedly purchased them.
Women's Police Station Panaji registered an offence against the couple after the offence was reported by a missionary nun with the support of an NGO in 2015. While the stepfather was arrested on June 2, 2015, the mother was arrested a day later.
The nun, who is a social worker, met the child at a house where she was employed as a domestic help. Thereafter, with the consent of the victim's mother, she was shifted to a school in Sancoale to resume her education. It is only when
the nun spoke to the survivor at length that she revealed the horrors of her childhood. She was 14 years old when the incident was reported.
As per the chargesheet, the survivor was taken out of school after she completed Std III. The sexual assault began in November 2009 when the girl was nine years old and went on till November 2014, when she was 14.
