Man held guilty of raping Dalit teenager 6 years ago

A special court here on Friday held a man guilty of repeatedly raping a 15-year-old dalit girl for over nine months six year ago on the pretext of marrying her.

Special Judge Sanjiv Kumar Tiwari, trying cases under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, held Jonny Thakur, a resident of Khedi village under Gharipukhta police station in Shamli district on charges of raping the teenaged girl in 2013.

The court also issued a non-bailable warrant against the convict, who was on bail and did not appear in the court on the day slated for delivery of the verdict in the case against him.

Fixing December 26 as the date for pronouncing quantum of punishment to the convict in the case, the special judge ordered police to arrest him and and produce him in the court on the next date of hearing.

Prosecution counsel Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the victim had approached the police in 2013 accusing Thakur of repeatedly raping her for over nine months on the pretext that he would eventually marry hwer.

But when the girl began insisting upon Thakur to marry her at the earliest, the man began beating her up and threatening with dire consequences, following which she approached the police along with her parents.

On her complaint, the police had booked the man under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO, besides the prevention of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and arrested him.

But some time after his arrest, he has been able to get bail.

Though the court convicted Thakur under various section of IPC and POCSO Act, it acquitted him from the charges under SC/ST Act.