Thane, Sep 8 (PTI) A special court in Thane has sentenced a 45-year-old man to life imprisonment for raping his brother-in-law's minor daughter.

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Additional Sessions Judge V V Virkar, who is the special judge for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases, in her order on Wednesday also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the accused.

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Special Public Prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale told the court that the accused committed the offence between July 2016 and December 2017 when the 16-year-old victim lived with her grandmother in a village in Maharashtra's Thane district.

The girl's father died some years ago and her mother had deserted her.

The victim used to go to her aunt's house in the neighbourhood at night to sleep and the latter's husband then repeatedly raped her following which the girl became pregnant, the prosecutor told the court.

The girl's grandmother later filed a police complaint, based on which the accused was arrested and a case was registered against him under various charges including provisions of the POCSO Act.

The court held that the prosecution has successfully proved the charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubt and sentenced him to life imprisonment, the prosecutor said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)