Mumbai: A special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012) court on Thursday sentenced a 35-year-old Maulvi to twenty years imprisonment for sexually assaulting one of his students – an eight-year-old girl, who used to go to him to learn Urdu, in May 2019.
The Maulvi was booked based on a complaint lodged by the stepmother of the child.
On the day of the incident, the complainant asked the girl child to get ready to go for the afternoon class, however, she refused to do so and started crying. When the complainant confronted her, she revealed that the accused Maulvi had sexually assaulted her in the morning class. The girl said that she has been suffering a lot of pain in her private parts because of the assault.
The complainant then informed other members of their family and based on her complaint; an FIR was registered against the Maulvi at Vinoba Bhave Marg police station. Maulvi was arrested the same day and is behind bars since then.
Public prosecutor Veena Shelar examined 10 witnesses and also used the CCTV footage in which the accused was captured following the girl and her cousin sister. He was also seen after the two kids while they were leaving his class.
The accused, however, claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case and was not a Maulvi but a tailor by profession. The prosecution, however, proved through various CCTV footage and witnesses that the accused used to run classes and teach Urdu.
