A court in Maharashtra`s Thane has sentenced a man to jail for allegedly flashing at a 17-year-old girl in 2022, reported news agency PTI.

The convict, Mehafuj Maksood Aalam Shaikh, has already undergone a prison term of nearly 17 months

In the order, the court said the Thane man shall be at liberty to get set-off under section 428 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for the period he has already undergone in jail, reported PTI.

The incident had occurred on September 7, 2022, when the Thane man flashed at the teenage girl near a hotel in Shanti Nagar area of Thane. Based on a complaint filed by the victim, the police arrested him a few days later, the prosecution said, reported PTI.

In the order passed on February 12, special court judge D S Deshmukh, hearing cases pertaining to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, held Shaikh guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 509 (insulting the modesty of any woman by uttering any word, making a sound or gesture, or exhibiting any object), reported PTI.

It imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him, and directed that the fine amount recovered from the accused be paid to the victim as compensation and referred the case to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) for further compensation to the victim.

In another case, a man allegedly sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl in Maharashtra`s Palghar district and fled to Surat in neighbouring Gujarat, from where he was arrested two days later, police said on Saturday, reported PTI.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at Achole in Palghar, they said.

During a probe, the police found that the 28-year-old accused, who hails from Rajasthan, had also allegedly molested another girl a few months back in Palghar, an official said, reported PTI.

“Around 12.30 pm on February 13, the accused entered the victim`s building and forcibly took her to the terrace, where he committed unnatural sexual assault on her,” senior inspector Shahuraj Ranavre of crime unit-II in Vasai said, reported PTI.

Based on a complaint lodged by the victim, a case was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 377 (unnatural offences) and 363 (kidnapping), and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at Achole police station, he said.

“The crime branch officials formed a couple of teams to trace the accused. They checked the CCTV footage of the locality and found that he lived in a slum colony in Nalasopara in the district. As per the intelligence inputs, the police came to know that the accused was travelling by Ajmer Express,” he said, reported PTI.

A police team followed him and nabbed him in Surat with the help of the local crime branch officials within 48 hours, he said.

“During his interrogation, it came to light that the accused had dragged another seven-year-old girl in Nalasopara to an isolated place and tried to molest her,” Ranavre said, reported PTI.

A case under IPC section 354 (assault or use of criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage her modesty) and the POCSO Act was registered at Tulinj police station in connection with that incident, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)

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