Minor boys testimony gets five-year RI for man under POCSO Act
Thane, Jul 23 (PTI) Holding the testimony of a minor boy trustworthy, a special court has convicted a man under provisions of the POCSO Act for sexual assault and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment of five years.
Special Judge D S Deshmukh also imposed a Rs 5,000 fine on Ravikumar Rohidas, while acquitting him of the charges related to carnal intercourse against the order of nature (IPC section 377) and aggravated penetrative sexual assault (section 5-m punishable under section 6 of the POCSO Act). The fine amount will be paid to the victim as compensation.
The copy of the July 19 order became available on Wednesday.
Rohidas, then 24 years old, allegedly lured the boy, who was five years old, with chocolates to accompany him on May 13, 2022, the prosecution said.
The child returned home injured the next day, recounting that Rohidas took him to a creek, assaulted him with a stone on his cheek, threatened him, removed his clothes, and touched his private parts with sexual intent.
The special court examined seven witnesses.
'The sole testimony of the victim child would suffice to hold that accused with sexual intent did aggravated sexual assault on him," the judge stated, relying on medical evidence that corroborated injuries on the victim's face, including abrasions.
The judge emphasised that the sutures given to the child indicated a blow by a sharp object, and dismissed the defence's argument that injuries could be from playing.
The court, however, acquitted Rohidas of charges of carnal intercourse and penetrative sexual assault.
'There is nothing on record to hold that the accused did carnal intercourse with the victim child. Also, it is not proved that he did aggravated penetrative sexual assault on the victim child," the judge noted.
He dismissed the defence's arguments that Rohidas was falsely implicated due to an old dispute between him and the family of the child.
'The accused's claim of false implication due to a previous fight with the victim's father was dismissed as improbable, given the child's injuries", the order stated.
Rohidas was convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and sections pertaining to kidnapping and voluntarily causing hurt of the Indian Penal Code, the prosecution said.
The court took a 'lenient view considering the nature of the offence, submissions of the accused and his detention in jail." PTI COR NSK
view comments
First Published:
July 23, 2025, 18:30 IST
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
5 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Poverty prevents people from filing appeals, says Madras High Court; orders release of life convict citing parity
Observing that there are several reasons, including poverty, that prevent people from filing appeals before higher judicial forums, the Madras High Court has ordered the release of a convict in a dacoity-cum-murder case by according him the benefit of parity with his co-convicts, who had been released from prison by an order of the Supreme Court in 2018. A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and V. Lakshminarayanan concurred with the argument of advocate R. Sankarasubbu that if the convict Balu, alias D. Balasubramanian, had approached the top court along with the three co-convicts, there was every possibility of his sentence also having been reduced from life imprisonment to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The judges allowed a writ petition filed by the convict's wife Indira Gandhi, seeking the release of her husband on the ground of parity. They recorded the submission of Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak, who also did not dispute the proposition of law laid down by the Supreme Court, in at least three cases, regarding the principle of extending parity to an unappealed convict. 'When the petitioner complains that her husband's constitutional right under Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) had been violated, we cannot shrug off our duties and ask the petitioner to... prefer an appeal to the Supreme Court,' the judges wrote and pointed out that the criminal case was from the year 2002, and that more than two decades had passed since he was convicted. 'All that we are doing is performing our constitutional duty of rendering parity between A1, A2, A4 and the petitioner's husband. Our powers under Article 226 of the Constitution are wide and they have been granted only to enable us to do justice. This court also has the inherent power and the jurisdiction, while dealing with situations as presented in the present case, to render justice and prevent manifest injustice,' the judges said. According to the prosecution, the convicts had robbed 4.7 kg of gold and 5.5 kg of silver from a jewellery shop after killing a person who was sleeping inside the shop. Though the petitioner's husband had not committed any overt act with respect to the murder, he too was convicted under Section 391 of the Indian Penal Code, which makes all members of a gang liable for punishment even if one of them had committed murder. Though the trial court had imposed only 10 years of imprisonment on the convicts, the High Court had enhanced their punishment to life imprisonment in 2010 while allowing a 2006 State appeal for enhancement of sentence. However, allowing a further appeal by three of the convicts, except the petitioner's husband, the Supreme Court had reduced their sentence to 10 years in 2018 and ordered their release. Hence, the petitioner had now approached the High Court, by way of a writ petition, seeking parity and obtained the relief.
The Wire
5 minutes ago
- The Wire
Authorities Capture Cheetah, Take It Back to Kuno After It Kills Goat In Village Near Ranthambore
Environment Deep Mukherjee Drama unfolded on August 12, with officials having to tug the dead goat from the mouth of the cheetah that would just not let go of the prey it had hunted. African cheetahs brought from the Kuno National Park are released in the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. Photo: X/@CMMadhyaPradesh via PTI. New Delhi: On August 12, authorities darted and captured female adult cheetah Jwala after it killed a goat in a village near Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, and attempted to eat it. Authorities took the animal back to Kuno National Park, where it was free-ranging in the wild before it crossed human-dominated landscapes and entered the state of Rajasthan recently. Cheetah kills goat Videos of an adult cheetah attempting to eat the carcass of a goat inside a corral in a village in Rajasthan surfaced on August 12 on social media. In one video, the cheetah can be seen starting to eat a dead goat inside a fenced enclosure, as several other goats look on and mill around in the same area. Tens of people can also be seen looking on in the video from outside the wire fence of the enclosure. The video shows two uniformed officers approaching the cheetah as it ate the goat, and dragging the carcass of the goat away from the animal. Another video shows the same incident from a different angle. In this video, the two uniformed officers can be seen attempting to drag the dead goat away, and the cheetah refusing to let go. The loud voices of villagers can be heard in the background, as the cheetah finally lets go of its grip on the dead goat and follows the uniformed officers to the spot where they dragged the dead goat to. From the videos, it is clear that people are within a few meters of the animal, as they talk and clamour loudly. In a press statement on August 13, Uttam Kumar Sharma, Madhya Pradesh Assistant Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Kuno National Park said that the female cheetah, Jwala, was 'rescued' from Kareera Kalan village in Sawaimadhopur district in Rajasthan, 'under challenging conditions'. Sawaimadhopur is the same district that is home to the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. 'With an enormous crowd of onlookers, the cornered animal was rescued after darting,' the press note issued on August 13 said. 'The animal had to be handled physically by the Cheetah Monitoring Team, by pulling the goat kill made by cheetah Jwala, in an effort to confine her within the enclosure to prevent any conflict.' According to the note, the cheetah was brought back to Kuno; here, it has been released back in the wild within the national park again, the Field Director confirmed to The Wire on August 13. According to authorities, the animal had crossed the inter-state boundary moving across a human-dominated landscape during the daytime on August 11. 'Considering the safety of the animal and of the people, a decision was taken to rescue Jwala,' the note read. 'Rescuing' who? Incidentally, ecologists told The Wire - just as the first batch of cheetahs were brought in, in September 2022 – that the release of the animals in the wild could aggravate human-wildlife 'conflict', or negative human-cheetah interactions, in the area. This, they said, was because some of the cheetahs brought in from Africa (Namibia and South Africa) could be animals that were familiar with human presence and predating on livestock – which are far easier prey than wild herbivores. Scientists have also suggested that some cheetahs brought to India may even be rescued from similar 'conflict' situations from villages in the countries they arrived from. On March 24 this year, villagers pelted African cheetah Jwala and her four cubs with stones after the big cats tried to hunt a calf on farmland outside Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, as The Wire reported. Jwala, the female cheetah that authorities captured from Rajasthan and brought back to Kuno on August 12, is one of the 11 remaining adult cheetahs among the 20 that arrived from Namibia and South Africa in September 2022 and February 2023 for Project Cheetah, India's ambitious but highly-criticised cheetah introduction programme initiated in Kuno in Madhya Pradesh. Nine adults have died due to various reasons including maggot infections and fights with other cheetahs. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
News18
13 minutes ago
- News18
1 held for running online investment scam via social media: Police
Last Updated: New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) The Delhi Police has apprehended a graduate from Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, for allegedly running a Rs 6.03-crore online investment scam that duped victims via social media, officials said on Wednesday. Accused Krishna Kumar (29) was tracked down and apprehended from Kulesara in Greater Noida, police said, adding that he allegedly lured people with promises of extraordinary returns in stock trading. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Aditya Gautam said the accused induced the victims to join a social media channel named 'Plus500 Global CS", where fake profit screenshots, fabricated trading dashboards and scripted chats were used to create the illusion of legitimate profits. In one such case, the victim was persuaded to invest Rs 6.03 crore in multiple instalments into accounts linked to the syndicate. When the victim attempted to withdraw the funds, he was blocked from the group, the officer said. During the probe, police discovered that the fraudsters used fake numbers and virtual phone lines to hide their identities. The funds were routed through multiple bank accounts in a layered manner to avoid detection. A breakthrough came when police traced Rs 57 lakh to an account of 'Priyanka Placement and Loan Services", which was found to be a front entity controlled by Kumar, the DCP said. The accused also operated two cyber cafes that facilitated fraudulent activities and masked financial transactions, he added. Kumar has been taken into police custody for sustained interrogation to identify other members of the syndicate, police said, adding that advanced digital forensics, device cloning and financial-trail mapping are underway to dismantle the wider network and recover assets. PTI SSJ ANM RC (This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI) view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
