Noida: 25-year-old man gets 10 years in jail for raping minor girl

A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) court in Surajpur, Greater Noida, has sentenced a 25-year-old man to 10 years’ imprisonment for raping a 15-year-old girl in Noida in 2021, prosecution officials said on Monday.

Ankit Paswan, a resident of Barola village in Noida’s Sector 49, allegedly lured the victim and offered her a cold drink laced with sedatives on March 19, 2021, and later raped her, said the court order issued on Monday.

The case was filed when the victim’s father lodged a complaint at Sector 49 police station on March 20, 2021, after his daughter did not return home.

“He said that his daughter had left home and did not return on March 19. The complainant suspected the role of Ankit, a neighbour, in the case,” said Chawanpal Bhati, special public prosecutor.

Police initially registered a kidnapping case under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and launched an investigation. However, neither the victim nor the accused could be located for a week. On March 26, police received information about Ankit’s movement near a local bus stand. Following a raid, police arrested the accused, and rescued the victim girl.

She was immediately sent for a medical examination, and Ankit was placed under judicial custody.

During the trial, the survivor recounted the events of the day she went missing, saying: “Ankit was a Facebook friend. He called me to reach Bhangel. There he offered me a cold drink…soon I lost consciousness. He called an auto and took me somewhere. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a room in Gurugram. He said that he would marry me and raped me. On March 26, he brought me to Noida when police arrested him and rescued me.”

Meanwhile, the accused’s lawyer, Kavita Chauhan, argued that the victim had gone willingly with Ankit.

“The victim had also started wearing ‘mangalsutra’ and ‘sindoor’. This shows she had willingly married the accused. The accused had also arranged accommodation and clothes for the victim and they were living like a married couple,” she said.

Dr HM Lavania, who performed the victim’s medical examination, said that she had no external injuries, adding: “The victim refused to undergo an internal examination.”

During the trial, the court focused on determining whether the victim was a minor and if she had been lured and raped under the pretext of marriage.

Documents from a private school where the victim studied confirmed she was 15 at the time of the crime. The court also relied on the victim’s statement about being given a sedative-laced cold drink and subsequently raped.

Saurabh Dwivedi, additional sessions judge, POCSO 2, convicted the accused on Saturday and sentenced him on Monday.

“Ankit Paswan is sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹20,000 under Section 4 of Pocso Act; also sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹10,000 under Section 363 (kidnapping) of the Indian Penal Code, and another seven years of imprisonment and ₹10,000 fine under Section 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage) of IPC,” the court said in its 14-page judgment.