A Mumbai court recently convicted a father for sexually assaulting his five-year-old daughter and held “a father is a fortress and trustee of his daughter. This crime, therefore, becomes more grievous.”
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A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) court dismissed the argument by the father’s advocate that he did not touch his daughter’s private parts by his finger. The court said, “I am astonished by such arguments because even the provision/definition of sexual assault given under Section 7 [sexual assault] of the POCSO does not specify how the assailant should touch the private part of the victim and what amounts to an offence if the victim is assaulted by the assailant.”
Change in behaviour
The case came to light after the mother was informed about the child’s change in behaviour by her teacher in January 2019. The mother then asked her child and she learnt about her husband touching her private parts. The mother then lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against her husband who claimed that she was falsely implicating him because she wanted to leave him.
Special Judge H.C. Shende sentenced the father to five-year jail term and said, “Needless to say that the accused did it [touching] with sexual intent which affects the mind of the minor victim.”
The court said, “A father is a fortress, trustee of his daughter. This crime, therefore, becomes more grievous. In the present case, I do not find extenuating or mitigating circumstances to justify imposition of lesser punishment. The plea for showing leniency is misplaced, and it would be travesty of justice.”