Thane: A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping and impregnating his 17-year-old relative.
Special Judge A D Harne found the accused, Jivan Ashok Vadvinde, guilty of charges under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The court sentenced the accused to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him. Of the fine, Rs 18,000 will be given to the victim as compensation.
The court also recommended that the District Legal Services Authority, Thane, decide a further quantum of compensation for the victim.
The order dated May 22 was made available on Saturday.
According to the prosecution, the accused sexually assaulted the girl on the intervening night of July 5-6, 2020, at a relative's house in Dombivli.
The crime came to light a month later when the girl was found to be pregnant, and she informed her family.
Judge Harne placed significant weight on the victim's evidence, supported by medical reports and a birth certificate that proved she was a minor.
"The court is required to consider the social impact of the crime, particularly where it relates to offence against women. The court is also required to keep in mind the gravity of the offence, the age of the victim, serious difficulty to be faced by the victim like the stigma in the society," he stated in the judgment.
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