A Thane district court sentenced a man to five years in prison for kidnapping and molesting a three-and-a-half-year-old girl during the Ganesh immersion procession in 2018.
P R Ashturkar, a Kalyan Additional Sessions Judge, also imposed a Rs 6,000 fine on the 35-year-old convict Vinod Bhola Kewat, who hailed from Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh, but lived in Ambarnath town in Thane district.
The prosecution informed the bench that the incident occurred on the night of September 23, 2018, when the victim’s mother took her and her siblings to watch the procession taken out before the immersion of Ganesh idols.
The girl mysteriously vanished during the procession. Her mother and others conducted a frantic search and later discovered the accused with the girl sitting in his lap in a secluded location. He was discovered molesting the crying minor.
The man was apprehended and handed over to police, who charged him with kidnapping and assault or criminal force with the intent to offend a woman’s modesty at the Shivaji Nagar police station in Ambarnath.
The bench stated in the order, “The accused has been imprisoned for the last three years.” But that cannot be used to justify leniency…” It stated that the accused should face harsh punishment in order to send a strong message to society, and that no unwarranted sympathy should be shown.
