Meerut: A special Pocso court in Bulandshahr has sentenced a 24-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for the abduction and repeated rape of a 16-year-old girl. While pronouncing the sentence on Thursday, Special Judge-III Om Prakash Verma, who had earlier delivered the verdict in the 2016 Bulandshahr gangrape case, said, "While the Govt of India and several state govts are promoting campaigns such as ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' (save the daughter, educate the daughter), if a strict stance is not taken against such barbaric acts, which still occur in modern times, daughters will neither be safe nor able to pursue education. Incidents like these render such governmental campaigns meaningless."
According to additional district govt counsel (ADGC) Varun Kaushik, the case dates back to Jan 2023, when the girl went missing a day after her cousin's wedding in the Salempur area. "Investigators subsequently found that the accused had lured the teenager with a false promise of marriage and forcibly detained her in Bengaluru, where he worked at a sweet shop, for about two months. During this period, she was subjected to continuous sexual assault. After a relentless search spanning two months, the police recovered the girl. A subsequent medical examination confirmed that she had become pregnant during her captivity," the ADGC said.
While the defence argued that the allegations were "baseless", the court upheld the girl's testimony, emphasising that "no woman would stake her reputation on a charge of this traumatic nature without truth".
The court also observed that "rape is not merely an assault; it completely destroys the victim's entire personality. A rapist attacks not only the victim's privacy and personal liberty but also inflicts severe psychological and physical trauma. There is a strong possibility that the victim may suffer from depression in the future, and her entire life has been rendered bleak and dark. It is difficult to imagine whether this young girl, now 22, will ever be able to fully recover from this appalling incident."
Justifying the sentence, the court stated, "In cases like these, adopting a lenient approach toward convicts is not justified from the standpoint of justice, as the crime has been committed with inhumanity and extreme brutality."
The convict, who was out on bail, was immediately taken into custody following the verdict. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000, directing the entire amount to be paid to the girl as compensation.
Sandeep Rai is a veteran journalist with two decades of experienc...
Read MoreSandeep Rai is a veteran journalist with two decades of experience in the reporting field. He heads the Western Uttar Pradesh bureau, managing Meerut, Bareilly & Agra circles. His areas of interest are wildlife, politics and special reportage.
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