Bengal: POCSO Court convicts 62-yr-old for sexually assaulting two minors

Darjeeling (WB): On Monday, a special POCSO Court in the Darjeeling Hills convicted a 62-year-old for physically assaulting two minors.

The Court convicted Dipak Chettri to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000, failing which an additional imprisonment of 3 months would be levied.

“In April 2018, a woman overheard her 9-year-old daughter and her 8-year-old friend talking about a man luring them to his house and sexually assaulting them. Based on this, an FIR was lodged following which the police arrested Chettri. About 11 witnesses were examined before the Court pronounced Chettri guilty and convicted him under Section 10 of POCSO Act,” stated Swapna Rai, Special Public Prosecutor.

In another incident, a juvenile was arrested under Section 6 of the POCSO Act along with Section 376 of IPC for alleged sexual and physical assault to a 14-year-old student in the Darjeeling Hills.

The incident occurred at a government school on September 12.

As per the complaint lodged by her father, on that day, Teacher’s Day commemorations were being held in the school. The victim, a class 7 student, was taken to an empty class by four girls and asked to wait as they went to the washroom.

Suddenly four boys appeared. While three stood guard outside, one approached the girl and locked the door from inside.

He then proposed to the student. When she refused, he physically and sexually assaulted her.

As the boy threatened her with dire consequences, the girl did not divulge the matter.

However, after three days of the incident, she narrated the incident to her father, who lodged a complaint on September 19.

Allegations have been levelled against the school for trying to settle the matter to save the school’s image from being tarnished.

“In recent times, we have come across many such incidents where Samaj (local welfare organisations) and leaders have tried to settle such cases.

This is an offence. Such matters can be handled by the police and judiciary alone.

In case of such incidents, schools should immediately report to the nearest police station.

POCSO cases cannot be settled outside courts,” stated Nirnay John Chhetri of MARG.