Three people have been awared three years jail term each in Ahmedabad for keeping a boy in bondage.
A special Pocso court sentenced the three — members of a family — for keeping a five-year-old boy in bondage with the observation that their offence was “inhuman and intentional”.
The accused were identified as Mohammed Akram Shaikh, his wife Sayrabanu and daughter Alice — who were held guilty of beating the child and of offences under the Juvenile Justice Act.
They have, however, been acquitted of charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, which police had invoked during their investigation. Special Pocso judge, SI Tarani acquitted three other members of the family for lack of evidence against them.
According to the case details, the boy came to the Shaikh family after his parents’ divorce. The family had employed the father at its powerloom unit in Rakhial. The father-son duo soon began living on the factory premises. After a few days, the Shaikh family took the boy home, promising his father that they would take care of him and his schooling. He was sent to a madrassa for a while.
Five years later, the father remarried and decided to get the boy home. The Shaikh family allegedly resisted it. It took the intervention of others for the father to secure the child’s custody. The child had been complaining about ill treatment, but the father did not bother initially. Once the child was in his custody, he filed a complaint with Isanpur police accusing the family of assault, criminal intimidation and abetment. Six members of the Shaikh family were booked under Sections 323, 506(2) and 114 of the IPC. During the investigation, police added charges under Pocso and the Juvenile Justice Act as well.
Before the court, the child narrated how he was beaten and forced to work in the house. Besides the witnesses’ testimonies, the court also had a video showing the Shaikh couple making the child toil and then beating him with their daughter standing nearby. The injury marks on the child’s body substantiated his allegations of torture.
The court found that the father’s conduct did not inspire full confidence about his truthfulness and acquitted three members of the family. It acquitted the accused of Pocso charges but found direct evidence against the three for violation of the JJ Act and the IPC and sentenced them to three years imprisonment.
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