Bulandshahr: A special Pocso court in Bulandshahr on Tuesday sentenced a 24-year-old man to life imprisonment for abducting a 15-year-old girl and raping her after confining her and pressuring her to convert her religion. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.9 lakh on the convict and directed that Rs 2 lakh from the amount be paid to the girl as compensation.
Two other accused were acquitted due to “lack of sufficient evidence”.
The case dates back to April 13, 2024, when the girl’s mother approached police, saying that the man had taken her daughter away in a white car while other family members were away harvesting wheat in their fields. Police subsequently filed a chargesheet against the man, his brother and father under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping or abducting with intent to compel marriage or illicit intercourse), 368 (wrongfully concealing or confining a kidnapped or abducted person) and 376(3) ( rape of a girl below 16), section 4(2) of the Pocso Act, and sections 3 and 5(1) of the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021.
The man first took the girl to Aligarh and then to Agra, where he raped her at a hotel, according to the prosecution. He subsequently took her to Jaipur and Ajmer in Rajasthan. In Ajmer, he confined her in a room for several days, forced her to consume intoxicants and non-vegetarian food, and repeatedly pressured her to change her religion. The girl, however, managed to switch on her mobile phone when she got an opportunity, enabling police to trace her location.
Additional district govt counsel Varun Kaushik said the prosecution examined 10 witnesses during the trial, including the survivor, doctor and investigating officer. Special judge (Pocso) Manoj Kumar Mishra also considered school documents and other evidence relating to the girl’s age and the circumstances of the offence, which supported the conviction.