By LI NETWORK-
Today the Bombay High Court comprising of the Division bench of Justice Sambhaji Shiwaji Shinde and Justice Makarand Subhash Karnik dismissed an appeal by Sudam Shelke (27) against a January 18, 2016 order passed by the additional Sessions judge in Nashik and upheld the punishment of life imprisonment.
On 12th September 2014, the victim while playing went into the dhaba where the accused gave her his phone and then he came back to the little girl’s home to take her phone back.
This all was encountered by victim’s grandmother. After 10-15 min when father of girl came back to home from fields, he searched for her daughter. Upon failure of finding her, the whole family started searching and the grandmother saw her crying in the Bajra crop field.
The victim was rushed to the hospital of Dr Chandurkar in village Nandur in Shingote. The next day, at around 7 am, the girl told her grandmother and her mother that the “mobile-wala baba” (accused) had taken her into the field. There he had committed his crime.
The grandmother filed an FIR against the accused after the incident. The Sessions court after the testimony of 11 witnesses found the accused to be guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The accused appealed in Bombay HC but the HC upheld the decision of lower court. While giving its verdict, the court said: “The sexual assault on the children is one of the heinous crimes. In the present case, victim girl is only three years and 8 months of age. It is an ugly breach of our commitment to protect the innocent”.
“The act of the accused shows that he has committed barbaric act and shown total disregard towards humanity.”
