Man gets 3 years in jail for sexually assaulting teen in Mumbai local train

Mumbai:

A special court in Mumbai has sentenced a 32-year-old man to three years in jail for sexually assaulting a student, a Marathi serial actress, while boarding a local train in Dadar.

The court said that these incidents show that girls are not safe “despite being surrounded by many people”.

Special Judge Priya Banker on Wednesday found her guilty under Indian Penal Code section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and relevant provisions of the POCSO Act. The detailed order was made available on Thursday.

Noting that the incident took place in a heavily congested area, the judge in his order said, “The incident has had a very adverse impact on the victim girl, her family members and the society at large. Such incidents create anxiety in the minds of people.” ” People further show that girls are not safe in the society even when they are surrounded by many people.” According to the prosecution, the incident took place in 2019 and the victim was 16 years old at that time and studying in class XII .

The victim told the court that she used to act in Marathi serials and used to travel from Thane to suburban Goregaon for shooting.

The incident took place when she was boarding a train from Dadar to Thane.

The accused vehemently contradicted the victim’s oral evidence about sexual assault on various grounds, and even accused her of not producing the required identity card to enter Film City in Goregaon.

The court, however, said there was no evidence to disprove her oral testimony that she was an actress and used to go to Film City for shoots.

The court said that this was a reason for him to travel by train at the relevant time and was not directly related to the incident.

The accused also tried to dispute the entire incident on the ground that there was no need for them to board the general compartment when the compartments were earmarked for ladies.

The judge said that there are separate compartments for women but it does not restrict or restrict their entry into general compartments like any other passenger.

Further, at the relevant time, the victim was traveling with a male friend, and there was nothing unusual about her boarding the general compartment, the court order said.

The court noted that the prosecution had proved that the accused had committed the offense of outraging her modesty and sexually assaulting her by having “physical contact with advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual advances”.

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