Greater Noida: 27-year-old sent to prison until death for raping a seven-year-old girl

A Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (Pocso) court on Monday sentenced a 27-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping a seven-year-old girl in an area under the jurisdiction of Surajpur police station in Greater Noida in 2020.

The victim lived on the ground floor while the convict, a factory worker, lived on the fifth floor of the same building, prosecutors said.

Chavanpal Bhati, special public prosecutor, said the victim had gone to the 5th floor to play when the convict caught her on October 20, 2020 and raped her. “The child came home and her dress had blood stains on it. When her mother asked the next day, she told her about the assault,” he said.

A police team arrived at the spot, but the convict had since managed to escape. Police lodged a case against the convict under Sections 376 (rape) and 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5/6 (penetrative sexual assault) of the Pocso Act and began searching for him.

“The following day, police arrested the convict in an encounter in which he sustained a gunshot wound to the leg. He was produced before the court and remanded in custody. “The chargesheet was filed on October 31, 2020 and the charge was framed on February 23, 2021,” Bhati said.

In court, the victim testified that her younger brother was playing on the fifth floor and she went there to pick him up. “The condemned man was already there. He took me to an empty room and raped me. He also taped my mouth shut so I couldn’t scream for help. He also showed me a knife and said he would kill me if I revealed the matter to anyone,” she told the court.

The public prosecutor’s office said there was significant evidence against the suspect and recommended that a severe sentence be imposed.

Pocso Court special judge Saurabh Dwivedi on Monday relied on the statements of prosecution witnesses and medical reports and convicted the suspect. “He is sentenced to life imprisonment up to death and a fine ₹50,000 under Section 6 of the POCSO Act,” Diwedi said. However, the convict was acquitted of Section 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC.