Khonsa: A special court designated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on Tuesday sentenced one Hok Hana Chakma to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for abducting and raping a minor girl.
The court convicted Chakma, a settler of Chakma Basti in Namsai district under Section 366 (abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc) of the Indian Penal Court and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.
It was alleged that the girl, who is about 15, initially received a call from an unknown number in June last year.
The person (now identified as Chakma) then started calling the girl regularly and lured her giving an impression that he belongs to a well-to-do family owning a bungalow and car. He also proposed to the girl and promised to keep her comfortable.
On June 23, 2020, Chakma asked the girl to meet him in Sompoi, a village in Changlang district following which he abducted her and took her to a jungle nearby and raped her.
The next day Chakma took the girl to his thatched house and kept her there for four days. During that time, the girl was repeatedly assaulted.
The victim was reunited with her parents on June 27, 2020, after which her father complained to the Diyun police station in Changlang district.
Chakma was accordingly arrested and a chargesheet was filed against him by the Diyun police led by sub-inspector R K Yein.
During the court proceedings that followed later, the victim pleaded that “he was in love with the victim girl and she had willingly gone with him and cohabited with him.”
Special Judge (POCSO) H Kashyap who expeditiously completed the trial while passing the judgement said that “a consensual love affair is not a defence against the criminal charge of kidnapping a child under 18 years of age and rape, as consent of a minor is no consent in the eye of law.”
The Khonsa court has further referred the matter to the Changlang district legal services authority for providing adequate compensation to the victim under the Arunachal Pradesh Victim Compensation Scheme, 2011.
