Sriganganagar : A young man guilty of repeatedly raping a teenage girl by blackmailing her has been sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. The matter came to light when a 13 year 10 month old girl became pregnant. This decision was given by Special Court No. 2 for POCSO cases on December 5. A fine of Rs 60 thousand has also been imposed on the guilty youth. Court’s SPP Harveer Singh Brar said that 20-year-old Bhagwant Singh alias Bhantu has been sentenced. This case was registered by the victim along with her mother at Jaitsar police station in April 2023. The victim had told in the complaint that the youth Bhagwant Singh alias Bhantu used to harass the victim while coming to school.
About a year before the case was registered, the youth stopped the victim while returning from school and threatened her that he had objectionable photographs of the victim. If the victim does not listen to him, he will make this photo viral on mobile. When the victim asked him to go to her house and tell her about this, the young man did not talk to the victim for two months. After this he again started blocking his path. Even about 10 months before the case was registered, the youth had followed the victim from school to her house. There was no one at the victim’s house in the afternoon. His parents had gone to the fields. Then the young man gave prasad to the victim. The victim ate the prasad and became unconscious after some time. When she regained consciousness after two hours, she came to know that the young man had raped the victim. When the victim asked to tell her mother, the young man threatened to make her obscene photo viral.
Due to which the victim got scared. The victim said in her complaint that when she was alone at home in the afternoon, the young man came several times and raped her. The young man secretly came to the victim’s house more than 15 times a day in 10 months and raped the victim. Due to this the victim became pregnant. After becoming pregnant, the victim came to know that she was carrying a child. Then he told his mother about the entire incident. After this she reached the police station and informed about the matter and got the case registered. SPP Harveer Singh Brar said that the then SHO of Jaitsar police station, Vikram Chauhan started investigating the case. The victim was admitted to a government hospital and a report was made. The family members of the victim appealed to the High Court for permission to abort the victim.
On the orders of the High Court, the abortion of the girl was done under the supervision of a doctor and DNA and FSL test of the fetus was done. In this, the DNA of the fetus matched that of the young man and the teenage girl. The total punishment in all three sections is 60 years, but together it will be completed in 20 years: Jaitsar Police presented the final challan on 22 August 2024 after receiving the FSL and DNA reports. Based on the seriousness of the case and the available evidence, the court conducted a speedy hearing and gave its verdict in 105 days. In this, under Section 3/4(2), 5(L)/6 and 5(J)(II)/6 of the POCSO Act, 20-20-20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 60 thousand have been imposed respectively. All three sentences will run concurrently, so they will be completed in just 20 years.
