09 March,2026 10:06 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The Bombay High Court upheld a special court’s verdict convicting the man and sentencing him to life imprisonment. FILE PIC
The Bombay High Court (HC) on Monday called it "too far-fetched" to believe a father's claim that his minor daughter had accused him of rape merely out of anger, news agency PTI reported.
A division bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Shreeram Shirsat dismissed the man's appeal and upheld the life sentence imposed by a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court that convicted him of repeatedly raping his minor daughter.
In his plea, the man argued that his daughter had implicated him falsely because he had stopped her studies as a parental disciplinary step, which had made her resentful, PTI reported.
However, HC rejected this theory. The bench noted that children do get angry with parents when fathers and mothers try to discipline them, but it would be far-fetched to accept that just for this reason, the survivor would level such serious, drastic, and far-reaching rape allegations against her own father.
In 2018, the survivor, then a minor studying in Class 10, revealed years of sexual abuse by her father during a counselling session under the "Police Didi" outreach programme at her Mumbai school, PTI reported.
In her police complaint, she stated that she had informed her mother about the abuse several times, but no action was taken.
The police then arrested the man and charged him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act. The special court later convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
While dismissing the appeal, the HC described the survivor's statement as "steadfast and sterling".
A 20-year-old tailor from Thane district has been arrested on charges of raping a minor and trying to force her into marriage, after Hindutva activists disrupted their planned interfaith wedding, an officer told news agency PTI on Monday.
The accused, a resident of Shantinagar in Bhiwandi near Mumbai, has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for rape and criminal intimidation, as the alleged offence took place when the IPC provisions were applicable.
According to police, the accused and the girl - a first-year Arts student from a college in Dombivali - became friends through social media while both were minors, and their friendship later turned into a relationship, PTI reported.
On March 6, the girl travelled to Bhiwandi to marry the accused as per Muslim customs. The accused had made all arrangements, including arranging a Qazi and witnesses, police said.
However, activists from a Hindutva organisation reached the venue and staged a massive protest against the interfaith marriage, creating a major commotion, PTI reported.
The matter was first reported at Shantinagar Police Station in Bhiwandi. As the girl resides in Dombivali, the case was later transferred to Vishnunagar Police Station.
(With PTI inputs)
