The Special POCSO court in Mumbai has recently sentenced a municipal school sports coach to 5 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting minor girls during training sessions.
The coach was found guilty by Special Judge SC Jadhav under Section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, along with relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code for molestation.
In addition, the court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on the convicted individual.
The coach, who specialized in the traditional sport of “lagori,” had been assigned by a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation school to train students between Std VII and Std IX. The prosecution stated that the informant, one of the targeted girls, was a Std IX student at the BMC school. The coach selected 15 girls from the school to participate in lagori, and he then used to hold practice sessions on Sundays in Mumbai’s Lalbaug area from 9 am to 12.30 pm.
However, the informant never attended the Sunday practices as her parents didn’t permit her to participate. The coach would often lure the girls by promising to teach them other sports such as wrestling and kabaddi. In July 2016, while providing wrestling lessons, the coach inappropriately touched one of the girls, as revealed during the court proceedings.
Later that same year, the coach took 14 students from the school and two girls from his club to Alibaug, near Mumbai, for a lagori tournament. During their stay at a resort, the coach repeatedly subjected the girls to inappropriate touching, according to the prosecution. One such incident occurred when the girls were playing in a water pool, and the coach asked them to come out. Despite their wet clothes, he insisted they stand while engaging them in conversation, making them feel uncomfortable and uneasy, as mentioned by the informant.
On another occasion, while boarding a bus during rainy weather, the coach took the informant and another girl under his umbrella and placed his hand on the informant’s shoulder, rubbing it. Disliking his touch, the informant quickly boarded the bus. The prosecution further informed the court that the coach also touched the girls inappropriately on the bus.
