Just one year jail sentence for man, accused of raping minor ‘several times

THANE: A man has been sentenced to one year imprisonment by a district court here for raping a minor girl on several occasions between 2008 and 2009.

Judge V V Bambarde held Shahzad Ali, 27, guilty of raping a minor girl under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping), 366-A (procuration of minor girl), 376 (rape) and sentenced him to one year imprisonment here yesterday.

He was also convicted under relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and was sentenced to an additional six months imprisonment.

Both the sentences will run concurrently, the judge ordered. Additional public prosecutor Hemlata Deshmukh told the court that the accused worked as a labourer at a plaster of paris firm and had befriended the victim (then aged 13), a resident of Karave in Navi Mumbai.

He then took the girl to different cities, Nagpur, Ludhiana, and in Uttar Pradesh between July 2008 and February 2009, and raped her on several occasions. The court was also told that the accused is a native of Badarpur in Uttar Pradesh and had come to Navi Mumbai for work.