Mumbai: Nine-year-old whispers in judge's ears, nails rapist

Mumbai, Apr 28: Overcoming all odds, a 9-year-old rape survivor, daughter of a hearing and speech-impaired woman living on the streets, deposed in court and nailed her attacker, a fellow street resident.

The special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court on Wednesday convicted the accused, Mangi Sonkar (49), and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment.

The child had not made the allegations of rape either before the cops or doctors due to male presence and had only mentioned the molestation.

The rape came to light when the child, uncomfortable with the male defence lawyer in court, was pacified by the judge and whispered in her ear about the rape. "The victim has been brought up in very insecure atmosphere.

It is but natural, impossible for a child who has been brought up in such condition, to depose before anyone and to disclose the fact of rape committed on her in presence of male person," the court said.

The child told the court that the incident took place on September 9, 2014. She used to sleep with her mother and sister on the footpath.

Her father had died a few years earlier. She said that the accused also used to sleep on the footpath along with his family. On the night of the incident, after everyone fell asleep, he attacked her.

The child said that she woke up her mother and revealed the incident to her.

The mother in turn took the help of a local man, Yusuf, who took them to Byculla police station and registered a complaint.

The court refuted the defence claims that the accused had been falsely accused at Yusuf's behest. Stressing that a conviction can be secured even without corroboration of the victim's testimony in a rape case, the court said, "The prime reason for attaching such an importance to the testimony of the victim is that a girl or a woman in the tradition-bound non-permissive society of India would be extremely reluctant to falsely implicate or even to admit any incident, which is likely to reflect on her chastity or to put at risk her own image, dignity and reputation in the society."

The court also found the child could not properly explain to her mother the extent of her ordeal due to barriers in communication. "The victim narrated the incident to her mother, in turn her mother narrated incident to one Yusuf uncle in sign language," the court said.

The court said since he too was male, the child could only tell him about molestation and not about the rape.