Vadodara: A special Pocso court in Anand sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs 26,000 for raping a minor girl from Umeta village in Anklav taluka, after abducting her and promising to marry her.The court of special judge and additional sessions judge, Petlad, Jhankhna Trivedi, also directed that the victim be paid Rs 4,00,000 as compensation. The accused, Suresh alias Feroze Mansang Vaghela, a resident of Gajniyu Faliyu in Umeta village, allegedly enticed the 17-year-old victim on Nov 10, 2024, and took her to Rangpur village in Botad district. He kept her at various farmhouses for about 10 days and repeatedly engaged in sexual intercourse with her. The victim is from the same community but lived in a village in Petlad taluka. The accused’s maternal home was in this village, which he visited occasionally. After a complaint was filed by the girl’s parents, Petlad rural police registered an FIR under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 137(2), 87, 64(2)(m) and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. A police team traced the minor and the accused to Ajmer, after which he was arrested. The accused later submitted a written response denying the allegations, claiming he only helped the girl because her parents were forcing her to marry someone else. He maintained his innocence, and the court heard oral arguments from both sides. The prosecution argued that the victim was a minor at the time, making her consent legally irrelevant. They stated that evidence clearly showed the accused took her without her parents’ consent and engaged in sexual relations with her, warranting strict punishment.
