Mumbai, July 9: A special court in Mumbai has sentenced a bus conductor to one year in jail for asking a 13-year-old schoolgirl if she knew anything about sex.
The accused, identified as Chandrakant Sudam Koli was found guilty by the court under Section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court also fined Koli Rs 15,000, which will be handed over to the victim after the appeal period is over.
The 13-year-old girl told the court that she used to travel to school on a government-run bus every day in the morning. There was only one bus that used to come near her residence in the eastern suburb of Mumbai.
The incident took place in July 2018 when one day, the girl boarded the bus and noticed that there were around two or three more people sitting on the front side of the bus.
The girl decided to take the seat over the wheel of the bus at the back, near the window. When Koli, the bus conductor, came near her, she showed him the pass that she had.
Koli then went away but came back later, sat next to her and asked her if she knew anything about sex.
The girl told him not to ask her such questions, following which Koli went back to the front of the bus. He came back to the girl again a few minutes later and asked her the same question. But again, the girl refused to answer.
The girl then got down from the bus as her bus stop approached. She narrated the incident to her friend, who, in turn, informed her mother.
Also Read: Man breaks penis vertically during sex, makes medical history
A few days later, when the girl refused to go to school by bus, the victim’s mother asked her if something was wrong. However, the girl did not tell her mother anything.
The mother then asked the girl’s friend who told her about the incident in Mumbai with the bus conductor. She then took her daughter to the bus depot. When the girl identified Koli, the mother called up police and a case was registered at Nehru Police Station.
After the case was filed, Kohli was put behind the bars for only 12 days but was later granted bail.
Now, the special court sentenced Koli to one year in jail. Following this, his lawyers filed an application for suspension of sentence. Conceding to the appeal of the accused, the special court suspended the sentence for 30 days.
