Mumbai: Man gets 5 years in jail for molesting 12-year-old girl in taxi in 2018

Photo for representational purpose

A special POCSO court on Wednesday convicted a 50-year-old man for sexually assaulting a minor girl in a taxi in 2018. The case was brought to the attention of police by the minor's mother.

In her complaint, the mother said she on her way to visit her ailing father-in-law in Navi Mumbai's Panvel on March 25, 2018. Along with her sister-in-law and two daughters, the complainant boarded a local train from CSMT but it halted at Nerul owing to repair work, stated a report in India Today.

Then the family decided to cut their trip short and return home. They took a taxi from CSMT and were joined by another relative of the complainant.

The three women sat in the back of the taxi while the complainant's 12-year-old daughter sat in the front seat next to the driver. A man then boarded the taxi between CSMT and Colaba.

According to the prosecution, the passenger offered to let the minor girl sit on his lap. When the family reached Colaba, the 12-year-old told her mother that the passenger touched her private parts.

Arguing for the prosecution, Geeta Sharma said there was no reason for the minor girl to implicate a total stranger.

The defense counsel, however, argued that the girl could have informed her mother immediately if the accused had touched her inappropriately.

In its judgment, the court said omissions and contradictions pointed out by the defense were "so trifle, negligible and petty that it may even need not require any discussion". The court also felt that the police's failure to track down the taxi driver was a setback but it was only a corroborative link to the prosecution's case.

"Sole testimony of victim girl is sufficient to prove that the accused had sexually assaulted her while travelling in the taxi," the court observed before sentencing the accused to five years in prison and slapping a fine of Rs 10,000 on him.

While the prosecution had sought maximum punishment for the accused, the accused passenger told the court that he is the only bread earner in the family and has to get two of his daughters married in the next two months.