A 24-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for raping his 14-year-old cousin. The court also convicted and sentenced another 25-year-old cousin of the victim to a 10-year term for raping her on another occasion. Both incidents took place in 2015. According to the prosecution, the victim, who was a Class IX student in 2015, was living with her parents in Ghatkopar. The 24-year-old accused, who is the maternal cousin of the victim, had been residing with her family since 2012. He was assisting the victim’s father at his shop. On the day of the crime, the victim had returned from school when there was nobody at home. Her cousin came home, as was his routine, for lunch. The victim served him lunch after which he sexually abused her. He threatened her against telling anyone about the incident. The victim told the court that the accused had raped her two to three times again. After a few months, the victim told her mother that she was not getting her periods. Her mother took her to a doctor who advised that a sonography be done. However, nothing was found in the sonography. The victim then left for her native town to attend the wedding of the accused. In her native village, the victim was on the terrace of her grandmother’s home when her paternal cousin raped her. The girl said in her deposition that she had raised a cry but nobody heard her since loudspeakers were playing due to the wedding function. When she returned to Mumbai, she suffered abdominal pain and was found to be pregnant. She then revealed to her parents that she had been raped. She delivered a child later, which was put up for adoption. A DNA test had concluded that the victim’s maternal cousin was the father of the child. Both the accused were convicted under sections including 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
