Shopian, October 24:In a landmark judgment aimed at upholding justice for victims of sexual violence, the Principal Sessions Judge Shopian, Shri Mehmood Ahmad Chowdhary, on Thursday convicted two accused in a sensitive case involving the kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor girl. The court awarded ten years of rigorous imprisonment to the main accused, Yawar Ahmad Sheikh, along with a fine of \u20b930,000, while Mehraj Ahmad Dar, the second accused, was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and fined \u20b915,000.<\/p>\n
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According to the prosecution, the case originated on December 12, 2022, when the complainant reported to Police Station Zainapora that his 17-year-old daughter had gone to a nearby shop and failed to return home. Despite extensive search efforts, she could not be traced until it emerged that Yawar Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Khawaja Pora, had deceitfully induced and abducted the girl with the intent of committing illicit acts.<\/p>\n
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Following this revelation, FIR No. 150 of 2022 was registered under Section 363 IPC, and an investigation was initiated. During the probe, the minor girl was rescued from the custody of the accused in Jammu. Evidence revealed that both Yawar Ahmad Sheikh and Mehraj Ahmad Dar, also a resident of Khawaja Pora, were involved in the abduction, confinement, and subsequent assault of the victim.<\/p>\n
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After the investigation, the charge sheet was filed on December 30, 2022, and the court framed charges under Sections 363 IPC and 3\/4, 17 of the POCSO Act on February 9, 2023. The accused pleaded not guilty, prompting a full trial. Out of 11 witnesses listed, 10 were produced by the prosecution to substantiate its case.<\/p>\n
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Upon the conclusion of the trial, Principal Sessions Judge Shri Mehmood Ahmad Chowdhary found that both accused had forcibly kidnapped the girl from her lawful guardianship. The court held that Yawar Ahmad Sheikh had subjected the victim to sexual assault, while Mehraj Ahmad Dar had actively abetted the offence.<\/p>\n
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The court ruled that the offences under Section 363 IPC (kidnapping) and Sections 3\/4 and 17 of the POCSO Act (sexual assault and abetment) were fully proven beyond reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n
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The Office of the Public Prosecutor Shopian lauded the judgment, describing it as a strong message against crimes targeting minors. \u201cThis verdict underscores our commitment to protect children\u2019s rights and ensure that perpetrators of such heinous acts face the full force of the law,\u201d .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shopian, October 24:In a landmark judgment aimed at upholding justice for victims of sexual violence, the Principal Sessions Judge Shopian, Shri Mehmood Ahmad Chowdhary, on Thursday convicted two accused in a sensitive case involving the kidnapping and sexual assault of a minor girl. The court awarded ten years of rigorous imprisonment to the main accused, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kashmir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91746,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91745\/revisions\/91746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}