54-Year-Old Cook Gets 20 Years In Jail For Raping Minor ‘Foster Niece’ In Thane

The case was registered in 2018, when the victim was 16. The accused – a cook based in Ahmednagar, and considered an uncle-like figure by the girl – came to stay with the family at the time. 

A 54-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor in Maharashtra’s Thane. The accused, described as the minor’s “foster uncle”, has also been fined Rs 22,000, to be paid to the victim for her rehabilitation.

The order was issued by a Thane court on Monday.

According to Special Public Prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale, the case was registered in 2018 on a complaint filed by the minor in 2018, when she was 16 and living with her father and two brothers in Manpada. The accused – a cook based in Ahmednagar, and considered an uncle-like figure by the girl – came to stay with the family at the time. 

A few days into his stay, in September, he started touching the victim inappropriately, and, one day, when her father was asleep, he raped her. He also threatened the girl that he would kill her if she informed anyone. The inappropriate touching continued for several days, until the girl reportedly told him that she would tell her father.

In 2018, a complaint was registered against the accused, and an FIR filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and sections of the IPC.

What Court Said

Special POCSO court judge Ruby U. Malvankar, in her judgment, said the accused did not appear to have honoured the relationship of a foster maternal uncle. “The offence was very heinous and disgusting. “He committed the said offence against a girl below 16 years of age who used to treat her and call him ‘mama’,” she added.

“Such a kind of act between such relations is certainly not acceptable and deserves to be condemned and dealt with a heavy hand in order to send an appropriate message in society to like-minded persons to act as a deterrent,” the court said.