A special POCSO court in Mehsana in Gujarat has sentenced Azam Khan Siddiqui to 20 years in jail for luring away a 17-year-old Hindu girl from Ladol in Vijapur and raping her in Pune. The court also ordered the accused to pay Rs 15,000 as compensation to the victim. The matter came to light in September 2023. Azam Khan has been lodged in jail since then.
The Ladol police had registered an FIR in this regard on 1st September 2023, under sections 363, 366, 376(2)(N) of the IPC and the POCSO Act. Subsequently, the charge sheet was filed in the court on 26th November 2023. Later, at a hearing in the POCSO court, a total of 13 witnesses were presented by the prosecution, including the medical officer who conducted the medical check-up of the minor victim girl and the PSI who filed the FIR. Apart from this, 49 documentary evidence were also given by the prosecution and the testimony of the victim and her parents was also recorded. A copy of the court order is available with OpIndia.
The victim, in her testimony, told the court that one day the accused Azam Khan messaged her at night and asked her to leave the house the next day in the morning. She said that despite opposing this message, Azam Khan continued the message and despite her refusal to go, the accused forced her to elope with him. She then left home at 5 a.m. and the accused met her at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. After reaching the railway station, they boarded a train and reached Pune. She informed the court that Azam Khan took her to a rented house there.
The victim said that the accused raped her three times at night. The next day at 6 a.m., the police came and caught them and brought them to Ladol police station. where her statement was recorded.
While delivering the verdict, the court said that in this case, if the victim has given consent because she is of minor age, then it is not to be taken into consideration as per the provisions under sections of the POCSO Act. Further, the victim said in her testimony that the accused took her to Pune and forcibly entered into physical relations.
The court convicted Azam Khan Siddiqui under sections 363, 366, 376, 376(2)(n) of the IPC and section 6 of the POCSO Act. While awarding the sentence, the court said that the accused committed the crime despite knowing that the victim was a minor. At a time when there is a significant increase in the number of such crimes in society day by day, it is also necessary to take into account the adverse impact on society, the court said.
The court sentenced Azam Khan to 20 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 under the POCSO Act, a 2-year sentence and a fine of Rs 2,000 under IPC 363, as well as a five-year sentence and a fine of Rs 3,000 under IPC 366. He will have to serve all these punishments simultaneously.
The incident took place in Mehsana in September 2023. A 17-year-old Hindu girl from Vijapur was lured away by the accused Azam Khan Siddiqui who took her to Pune and raped the victim. On 1st September, after the minor’s family complained that their daughter was kidnapped by an unidentified person, the police took immediate action given the seriousness of the incident and arrested Azam Khan from Pune in Maharashtra within a few hours.
The accused Azam Khan Siddiqui hails from Uttarakhand. He had come in contact with the minor victim girl five months before the incident took place. He befriended her with the help of a social media app. Then he brainwashed the minor, lured her, and called her to meet him at Kalupur railway station in Ahmedabad. He then took the victim to Pune where he forcibly committed rape three times. Now the court has sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
