Jalandhar man gets 20 years RI for raping minor girl

A special fast-track court here on Thursday sentenced a 45-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor girl multiple times.

The court of additional sessions judge Amarjeet Singh also imposed a fine of ₹1.05 lakh on the convict, Harjinder Singh alias Bablu of Chomon village of Adampur in Jalandhar.

The victim had also tried to end her life after she had missed her exams due to mental stress and harassment. The accused was a tenant of the grandfather of the victim.

The man has been given 20 years RI under section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and five years under section 506 of the IPC. Both sentences will run concurrently.

Public prosecutor BD Gupta said that the court also ordered that ₹1 lakh of fine imposed on the man will be given to the victim as compensation.

The victim, who was then 17-year-old, had lodged a complaint to police in March 2021 stating that she was a class-11 student and was living with her maternal grandparents in Jalandhar due to her studies, while her parents lived in Ludhiana. The man used to sexually abuse her while she was there.

She said that her grandparents’ tenant Bablu had good relations with her family, and she used to call him ‘mama’ (uncle). After the lockdown was imposed in March 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak, her parents brought her back to Ludhiana. She said that after she came back to Ludhiana, he started visiting their house regularly and raped her multiple times.

The convict came to Ludhiana in August 2020 and forced her to consume a soft drink laced with sedatives. After she lost her consciousness, the man raped her and also recoded lewd videos of her. He again came to their house in September 2020 and raped her at gunpoint. Then again, he came in October 2020 but seeing her parents at home, he went away.

The victim added that in November 2020, the accused again came to Ludhiana and took her out on pretext of buying a book. He took her to Patran village of Jalandhar and raped her. She said that when her mother called him to enquire how they got so late in buying the book, the accused lied to her that his scooter developed some technical snag.

In February 2021, he raped her again. She said that she had school exams on March 16 and 17, 2021, but due to stress and harassment, she missed the tests and tried to end her life. After being hospitalised for three days, she gained consciousness and revealed everything to her parents.

Her parents took her to Daba police station to file a complaint on March 20, 2021.