Goa Children's Court on Friday sentenced a 64-year-old man from Morpilla, Quepem to three years rigourous imprisonment in a 2014 case of sexually assaulting his 13-year-old niece.
A fine of Rs 1.10 lakh has also been imposed on the accused and the amount has been ordered to be placed in a fixed deposit account in the victim's name till she attains age of majority.
The chargesheet filed by Cuncolim Police states that on October 18, 2014 at 2.30 pm at Quepem the accused wrongfully confined his 13-year-old niece in a room located in a hilly area. He lured her there under the pretext of giving her a chocolate.
He was arrested on the same day and has been in judicial custody ever since.
Children's Court president Vandana Tendulkar convicted the accused under Section 354 (assault with intent to outrage modesty of a woman), Section 8 (2) (child sexual abuse) of Goa Children's Act, 2003 and Section 8 (sexual assault) of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 on November 10 citing unshaken testimonies of the victim girl and the complainant, who is father to the victim and brother of the accused.
The prosecution examined 11 witnesses in support of its case.
During the course of the trial, Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad report said that out of the clothes attached by the investigation team from the scene of offence, human semen was detected only on the towel of the accused, while no semen was detected on the clothes of the accused and the victim.
As there was no medical evidence on record to support the prosecution's claim of rape, the Court did not uphold the charge listed in the chargesheet.
However, the judgement pointed out, "There is no reason for the victim to falsely implicating the accused and the accused has not succeeded in establishing any inimical relation between him and the complainant (his brother)."
It was also pointed out that, in his testimony, the victim's father stated that he caught his brother while committing the offence and slapped him. In her statement, the victim has said that the offence has occurred twice in the past as well.
Arguing on the point of sentence, public prosecutor Krishna Sanzgiry sought to underline that the offence has put the minor victim through a lot of trauma which will haunt her for the rest of her life. She also prayed that no undue sympathy should be shown to the accused as he is a matured man who went on to commit the heinous offence on a girl of tender age.
Defence counsel R Dessai prayed that the antecedents, frail financial ability and the old age of the accused should be considered.
