UP court sentences transgender person to 20 years in jail for raping 7-year-old girl

A special court hearing Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act cases in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly on Monday convicted a transgender person of raping a seven-year-old girl in 2022 and sentenced the person to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Uma Shanker Kahar also imposed a fine of Rs 12,000 on the convict, Fareen Ahmed, 23, and said that the jail term would be extended for one more year if the accused failed to pay the amount.

Ahmed was convicted under Section 6 of the Pocso Act, which deals with punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.

On March 27, 2022, the girl’s mother lodged a First Information Report (FIR) at the jurisdictional police station saying that Ahmed had raped the girl after convincing her to accompany him to his house to watch television. “He raped her at his house and threatened to kill her if she dared to tell anyone about the incident. My daughter came home in a critical condition and was bleeding. She was admitted to a local hospital for two weeks,” the woman said in the FIR.