Bombay High Court Upholds Life Sentence Of Man Convicted For Sexually Abusing Five Minor Girls

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (September 11) upheld the conviction and the life sentence imposed on a 40-year-old man, who was convicted for sexually abusing at least five minor girls.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan upheld the March 29, 2014 judgment of a special court in Thane, which convicted Ramesh Gopnur for raping five minor girls and sentenced him to life imprisonment under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the relevant provisions of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

"Considering the evidence, it is evident that all the five victim survivors were sexually assaulted by the appellant. Not only the evidence of the survivors inspires confidence but the same stands duly corroborated by the medical evidence and the evidence of PW6 who had witnessed the incident of sexual assault. All the survivors were minors, between the age group of 8 to 13 years. Under Section 29 of the POCSO Act there is a presumption. The said presumption has not been rebutted by the appellant," the bench said in the order.

The judges therefore deemed it fir to uphold the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court on the appellant Gopnur and it accordingly, dismissed his appeal.

Background

As per the prosecution case, the appellant while sexually abusing one of the victims, was seen by a neighbour, who informed the same to the said victim's mother. When other neighbour's learnt about the incident, one after the other, all the remaining four victims narrated their ordeals to their parents as to how the appellant, who was called as 'Mama' by all the victims, abused them by calling them in their house on the pretext of cleaning his utensils, or buying him bidi or matchbox etc. 

The prosecution pointed out that since the appellant lived in a separate house than his wife and children, he sexually abused the minor girls of the neighbours.

In his defence, the appellant attempted to argue that he was being falsely implicated in the case as there was a pending land dispute between him and the family of one of the victims'. 

The bench, however, noted that the testimony of each of the victim corroborated with each other and inspired confidence. It therefore, dismissed his appeal.

Appearance:

Legal Aid Counsel Laxmi Raman was appointed for the Appellant.

Additional Public Prosecutor Gauri Rao represented the State.

Advocate AR Kapadnis was appointed as Amicus Curiae for the Complainant.

Case Title: Ramesh Gopnur vs State of Maharashtra (Criminal Appeal 595 of 2014)

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