Man sentenced to 10 years RI for raping teen sister in Thane district

Thane: A court in Maharashtra's Thane district sentenced a man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for threatening and raping his 15-year-old sister on multiple occasions.

Additional sessions judge P R Ashturkar of Kalyan court found the 32-year-old accused guilty of charges under sections 376(2) (rape) and 506(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code for the offence that took place in 2015.

A copy of the order passed on July 2 was made available on Friday.

The judge also fined the accused a sum of Rs 5,000 and ordered the same to be paid to the victim as compensation.

Special public prosecutor Kadambini Khandagale informed the court that the accused, a labourer from Dombivli, sexually assaulted his minor sister on two occasions in August and September 20.

The teen girl was living with the accused and her other brother in a rented accommodation at the time.

The victim, after the second assault, sought help from a friend whose parents encouraged her to file a police complaint, leading to the registration of the FIR on September 22, 2015.

Judge Ashturkar rejected the defence's argument that the girl had fabricated the story about the assault and pointed out that the medical evidence clearly showed the commission of sexual assault, and the girl's oral testimony corroborated the findings.

The judge further emphasised the victim's vulnerability and the unique circumstances of the crime.

"She, being a younger sister, must not be in a position to rescue herself. There was trauma from previous similar sexual assault too. Last but not least, there is no reason for a sister to depose false against her real brother, that too making such wild allegations," the court said.