Punjab court sentences man to 20 years in jail for raping minor, says crimes on the rise despite POCSO Act

An Ahmedabad resident, Bhai had lured the girl from Rupnagar district in February last year by befriending her on social media. He took her to Gujarat where he kept her in illegal confinement for one month and raped her repeatedly.

“Crimes against children are on (the) rise each year in spite of enactment of POCSO Act, which contains stringent provisions to deter offences against children,” Ramesh Kumari, Additional District and Sessions Judge, said while convicting Bhai.

“As per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), over 1.49 lakh cases of crime against children were registered during 2021. This reflects a sharp increase of 16.2 per cent over 2020 (1.28 lakh cases). The crime rate registered per lakh children population was 33.6 per cent in 2021 in comparison with 28.9 per cent in 2020. In 2021, there were 53,874 cases under various sections of POCSO involving 54,359 victims,” the judge said.

The girl had stated in her deposition that she interacted with the accused on Instagram and they became friends. In February 2023, they met at the Morinda bus stand in Rupnagar district. He then took her on a train to Gujarat, where he kept her in one room and repeatedly raped her, she said in her deposition.

In March 2023, a police team, accompanied by her father and her relatives, rescued her. After her medical examination on March 9, 2023, the police handed her over to her parents, she said. The girl also identified the accused through video conferencing at the time of her statement being recorded.