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AGRA: A 34-year-old man from Mathura has been sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a 13-year-old mentally challenged girl. Special public prosecutor Rampal Singh said the incident came to light late on the night of Jan 19, 2024, when the girl’s mother woke up around 2am and found her daughter missing. “The family searched the area and, around 3.45am, spotted the girl walking back home with multiple injury marks and bleeding,” Singh said.The parents immediately took her to the local police station, where her father lodged an FIR against an unknown person under IPC sections 376 (rape), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and provisions of the Pocso Act. A subsequent medical examination confirmed that the minor, who was a Class 5 student at the time, had been raped.Later, in a statement given before the magistrate, recorded under CrpC section 164, the girl identified the accused, a neighbour, and said he had threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incident. Police then scanned footage from nearby CCTV cameras, traced the accused and arrested him three days later. He has remained behind bars since. Police also found that he had at least six criminal cases registered against him, including those related to criminal intimidation and rioting. While delivering the verdict on Monday, the special Pocso court of judge Brijesh Kumar-II in Mathura observed that the crime was “heinous in nature, particularly as it involved a minor with learning difficulties, and warranted the maximum punishment under the law”. It also imposed a fine of Rs 1.1 lakh on the convict, directing that the entire amount be paid to the girl’s family for her rehabilitation. In case of non-payment, the convict will have to undergo an additional year of imprisonment.
