Thane court sentences senior citizen to 3 years RI for molesting minor girls at housing complex

Thane, Oct 4 (PTI) A court in Maharashtra's Thane district sentenced a 75-year-old man to three years of rigorous imprisonment for molesting two minor girls in a housing complex.

Special Judge Ruby U Malvankar convicted the accused, Pratapmal Hansraj Kothari, of charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and section 354 (assaulting or using criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code.

A copy of the order dated October 1 was made available on Saturday.

Special public prosecutor Varsha Chandane informed the court that the accused had molested a 12-year-old girl, who was visiting the complex during her Diwali vacations in 2020. The child informed her mother, following which a case was registered, and during a probe, the police found that the septuagenarian had similarly molested another child in the locality.

The court relied on the consistent testimony of the victims and electronic evidence, including CCTV footage, to establish guilt.

The court, in its order, noted, "From the facts and circumstances as well as the evidence produced before the court, it appears that the accused was habitually committing such a type of offence with children in society. His earlier acts went unnoticed, and the act which he committed with (the first victim) brought the conduct — rather misconduct — of the accused to light." It further held that "by conducting himself in an inappropriate manner with the children in society, especially girl children, the accused has lost the respect which the other elderly persons of his age would receive from children in general and also does not deserve unwarranted sympathy".

The court sentenced Kothari to three years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 for each of the two counts, with the sentences to run concurrently.

The court also ordered that the fine amount be paid to the victim as compensation, and referred the case to the DLSA for payment of appropriate compensation to the victim. PTI COR ARU