Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, May 4: A Goa court has sentenced a 22-year-old bus conductor to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment following his conviction for the rape of a 17-year-old girl. The perpetrator, who was known to the survivor, saw his crime come to light only after the teenager suffered a natural miscarriage, an event that triggered a formal inquiry into the pregnancy.

During the proceedings, the POCSO court delivered a firm stance on the legal protections afforded to minors, explicitly stating that the girl’s consent was entirely irrelevant to the conviction.

The judge noted that whether the act occurred with her perceived cooperation or through the use of an intoxicating substance was immaterial under the law. Furthermore, the court dismissed the defense's attempts to scrutinize the survivor's personal history, ruling that her character or past behavior had no bearing on the merits of the case.

Public prosecutor S. Nagvenkar successfully argued for a stringent sentence, emphasizing the heinous nature of the crime and the need to send a powerful deterrent message to society.

While the defense sought leniency by citing the conductor's status as his family's sole breadwinner and claiming a lack of criminal intent, the court prioritized the gravity of the assault against a child, upholding the decade-long term of imprisonment.