PANAJI
A Fast Track Special POCSO Court in Panaji has sentenced a 22-year-old bus conductor, Shankar Madar, to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 2025.
The court found that the offence took place between June 13 and June 14, 2025, inside a bus parked near the Vasco bus stand. According to the prosecution, the accused offered the girl a drink that made her feel dizzy, after which the assault took place.
The case came to light in July 2025 when the victim, who was staying at a state-run shelter, tested positive for pregnancy at GMC Bambolim. She later suffered a natural miscarriage.
During the trial, the defence argued that the victim had initially named a fictitious person, “Avinash”, when speaking to the police. She later told a Magistrate that she had given a false name as she did not want to cooperate with the police at that time. The defence said that her changing statements and failure to raise an immediate alarm raised doubts about her version.
The court rejected these arguments, noting that the defence had failed to disprove the prosecution’s case.
The court found the victim’s identification of the accused ” a conductor on a bus plying the Vasco-Cipla route ” to be reliable. It also observed that medical evidence confirming the pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage supported the prosecution’s case that sexual intercourse had taken place.
Holding Madar guilty of raping a minor, the court sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
