POCSO: Soldier sentenced to life imprisonment for rape, abetment to suicide
Accused raped the minor and blackmailed her by threatening to release her photos on social media
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Representative image.
JAIPUR: The special court for the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses) Act cases in Jaipur sentenced Rotan Singh Tanwar, a soldier, to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 6.25 lakh for rape, blackmail, physical assault, and forcing a minor to commit suicide.
Presiding Officer Sandeep Kumar Sharma said that the accused raped the minor belonging to the ST community and blackmailed her by threatening to release her photos on social media. The victim, distressed by the ordeal, eventually took her own life. Despite being in the army, the accused committed this heinous act and deserves no leniency.
According to Special Public Prosecutor Vijaya Pareek and advocate Rajesh Pareek, the victim’s father lodged a report at the Paniala police station on November 20, 2017.
The report stated that his 17-year-old daughter had committed suicide a day before by hanging herself. In a suicide note found in her school bag, the victim wrote that Rotan Singh raped her on September 4, 2016, when she was home alone.
He continued to rape her on subsequent occasions, threatening to release her obscene photos on social media. When the victim checked his mobile in July 2017, she found no photos, but it was too late, and she felt compelled to take her own life.
The police arrested the accused soldier, who was stationed in 20 RR Dogra, based on the report and presented the challan in court. During the trial, the victim’s mother testified that her daughter went to the old house to buy shoes and did not return for an hour.
When she went to check on her, she found the room locked from the inside. After looking through the window, she discovered her daughter hanging from a noose made of a chunni. The FSL report confirmed that the suicide note was written by the victim before her death.
