Mumbai: The special court for the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) recently convicted a 66-year-old doctor from Ghatkopar for sexually harassing a 17-year-old girl working part-time for him. The accused groped her and kissed her at his warehouse in March 2018.

About The Incident

The incident was caught on the CCTV camera installed, which led to his conviction. Special judge Madhuri M Deshpande, while holding the man guilty of sexual harassment, observed, “The cases of child sexual abuse demonstrate the inhumane mindset of the accused. The children are easy prey, due to their tender age, physical vulnerabilities, and inexperience of life and society. The present incident took place with a minor victim girl, aged 17 years, inside the store room of the shop of the accused. It had an adverse impact on the victim, her family members and on society.”

As per the prosecution’s case, the victim had just given her Class 12 exams and wanted to attend computer classes. For this, she came to reside with her maternal uncle. She also started working at the shop of the accused. The prosecution claimed that the victim’s duty hours were from 9 am to 6.30 pm. She would pick up the key from the house of the accused and open the shop.

On March 22, 2018, she was informed that the accused was in the warehouse and the keys were with him. She alleged that the accused asked her to shut the doors and later hugged and kissed her. She pushed him and ran away to the shop. She later informed her uncle and got a case registered with the Ghatkopar police on the next date. The accused was arrested on March 23, 2018.

The prosecution also examined her uncle and the technician for the CCTV footage recovered from the warehouse. The court noted that the footage confirmed the victim’s version. The court noted that the footage clearly shows that the victim entered the shop at 9.05 am and the accused came four minutes later. The incident took place soon after.

The court noted that the footage clearly shows the girl coming to the warehouse where the accused joins her. It shows work of keeping boxes and some exchange between the two, with the accused hugging her and moving his hand on her back and on the head, and then kissing her, the court stated.