Man gets 6-month RI for showing porn to minor.

PUNE: A sessions court here has sentenced a 31-year-old man to six-month rigorous imprisonment for showing pornographic pictures to a minor girl on his cellphone in the Vishrantwadi police area in January 2015.

Accused Sanjay Omprakash Pardeshi of Indiranagar in Yerawada, a married man, was involved in an affair with the girl’s mother after her father had passed away. He was looking after the girl and her mother. During the trial, the mother did not support the girl’s case, but deposed in favour of the accused in what, the court observed, might be an attempt to screen him from punishment.

 

The court, however, relied on the girl’s evidence that stood corroborated by the evidence of her class teacher and school principal to whom she had first reported the incident. It also relied on the digital forensic report relating to presence of the porn pics in the cellphone that was seized from the accused.

Additional sessions judge Mohammad Nasir M Saleem convicted Pardeshi for offences under Section 354 (A) (1) (iiii) of the IPC, which refers to showing pornography against the will of a woman, and Section 11 (sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Pardeshi got a reprieve from the more serious offences under Section 354 (A) (1) (i) of the IPC, which refers to physical contact or advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures, and Section 7 (sexual assault) of the act.

 

The court observed that the girl’s conduct after this alleged sexual assault, which occurred a day before the offence, was unnatural as she kept mum about the incident. The prosecution could not establish the ingredients of this offence beyond doubt, the court held.

According to prosecutor Arundhati Brahme, the accused called the girl near a bridge and touched her inappropriately on January 20, 2015, following which the frightened girl returned home. The following day when she was in school, the accused called her outside on the pretext of offering an ice cream and showed her pornographic pictures on his cellphone. The girl then told her class teacher about it.