Guj: Man sentenced to life imprisonment for raping 6-year-old girl

A special POCSO court in Gujarats Surat on Saturday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for raping a six-year-old girl around a year and a half ago.Special judge Asha Anjariya sentenced Mukesh Shah 23 to life imprisonment till his last breath and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him and also ordered that the victim be paid Rs 7 lakh as compensation under the victim compensation scheme.As per the case details, the incident took place near Sachin industrial area on the night of December 9, 2020.

A special POCSO court in Gujarat's Surat on Saturday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for raping a six-year-old girl around a year and a half ago.

Special judge Asha Anjariya sentenced Mukesh Shah (23) to life imprisonment till his last breath and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him and also ordered that the victim be paid Rs 7 lakh as compensation under the victim compensation scheme.

As per the case details, the incident took place near Sachin industrial area on the night of December 9, 2020. Shah kidnapped the girl who was sleeping with her sister and father, labourers from Madhya Pradesh, in an under-construction building. He took the girl to an abandoned hut around a kilometre away and sexually assaulted her.

The accused also slapped the girl and left her in an injured state before fleeing the spot. The girl was later found and taken to a hospital where she underwent treatment.

An FIR was lodged at Sachin GIDC police station on the basis of a complaint lodged by the girl's father.

Shah was charged under sections 363 (kidnapping), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 376 AB (punishment for rape on woman under 12 years of age) of the IPC, and other provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.