MUMBAI: A special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) court on Monday sentenced a lagori coach to five years imprisonment for sexually abusing 14 girls after taking them to a resort on the pretext of a tournament in Alibaug in 2016.
On July 30, 2016, the accused took the 14 girls and two other girls from his club to Alibaug. On route, he informed them that the match was at 5:30 pm and therefore, he was taking them to a resort in Pen. The girls claimed that there was no match scheduled and that the accused began misbehaving with them by touching them inappropriately in the resort.
The prosecution has examined five of these girls, who told the court that the coach had sexually abused them by touching them inappropriately during their coaching sessions and in the resort.
The girls also alleged that the accused used to molest them even while they used to practice for other sports. The man in his defence has claimed that a false case was registered against him, but the claim was rejected by the court.
One of the girls claimed in her deposition, before the trial court, that the accused was introduced to them by their PT teacher in 2016 when they were studying in Class 9.
The girl alleged that the accused had selected 15 students of standard 7 to standard 9 for lagori training. He used to call the girls for practice every day at 9 am and the practice would last till 12:30pm. On Sundays, he used to ask all the girls to come for practice at Lalbaug Garden.
During practice, the accused told them about lagori matches organised by Maharashtra State Lagori Association at Alibaug on July 16 and 17, 2016, and asked them to pay ₹2,000 each to participate in the tournament. Two days prior to the match, he told them that the tournament was postponed to July 23 and 27, 2016 and eventually, told them that it was on July 30.
On July 30, the accused took the girls to a resort in Pen on the pretext of taking them to a match in Alibaug. At the resort, he sexually abused the girls by touching them inappropriately. From the resort, he took the girls back to Mumbai and told them to lie to their parents and school that they had won the match.
On returning to Mumbai, the girls, however, told their parents and teachers the truth and narrated the entire episode to them. However, it was only after a month that the case was registered on September 2, 2016.
During the probe, it transpired that there was no match scheduled and the coach had made the bookings at the resort two days prior to the incident. Also, no permission was taken from the school management to take the girls for the ‘tournament’.