A special court here has sentenced a man to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a girl. Special court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act Madhuri Anand held the accused, Pradip Rambhau Gaikwad (38), guilty and awarded the sentence on Tuesday. Gaikwad, a resident of Vadghar near Panvel in Raigad district of Maharashtra, sexually assaulted the girl in February 2018. The victim was around 16 years old then, the prosecution said.

He raped the girl on multiple occasions thereafter. During her medical examination, it came to light that she was pregnant. When her parents asked her about it, she told her ordeal to them, the prosecution said. Following a complaint, the man was arrested and a probe was launched. He was booked under IPC section 376 (rape) and under different sections of the POCSO Act.