A special court in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tirap district designated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) on Monday sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a minor girl.
The court convicted one Janjam Wangsu, a native of Nyausa Village in Longding district under Section 06 of the POSCO Act for ‘aggravated penetrative sexual assault’ on the minor.
The incident took place on December 6 last year when the victim was alone in her house after her stepmother had gone out to attend a carol service.
“Janjam along with two of his friends came to the victim’s house asking for rice beer. When the girl went out to clean the utensils, Janjam suddenly got hold of her and forcefully gagged her mouth with his hand. He then forcefully took the girl towards the national highway near Don Bosco Colony and raped her,” officials said.
The heinous offence left the victim in severe pain after which she also fainted. Following the incident, she even stopped having food and fell ill. When she disclosed the event to her stepmother, she was taken to Longding police station and an FIR was lodged by inspector O. Lego. An investigation soon followed after which inspector A. Chama filed a chargesheet against Janjam on March 15 this year.
Special public prosecutor N Hallang, who conducted the prosecution, examined seven witnesses. During the trial, it was disclosed that the victim suffered from prolonged trauma and ailment for which she had sought medical treatment and counselling.
Though the regular court hearing was disrupted due to Covid-19 restrictions and the case was heard virtually, Khonsa special Judge (POCSO) H Kashyap expeditiously completed the trial and convicted Janjam for his offence.
The Khonsa court has further referred the matter to the Longding district legal services authority for providing adequate compensation to the victim under the Arunachal Pradesh Victim Compensation Scheme, 2011.
