AHMEDABAD: Making videos to upload online was her passion. And, it stood the 17-year-old in good stead when her stepfather began harassing her sexually with her mother’s consent.
The teenager secretly videographed them in action and submitted the proof to the police. The irrefutable evidence and her solid testimony sent the couple to five years in rigorous imprisonment under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso).
Following Covid disruptions, she went to live with her mother (52) and stepfather (38) in Geratpur in December 2021. She is the youngest of four daughters; the three elder ones were married. Immediately after she moved into the house, her stepfather began making sexual advances towards her. When she complained about her stepfather’s misbehaviour, her mother brushed aside her grievances and told her he would marry her soon.
The teen discussed the issue with a couple living nearby. The couple, who knew she often used to shoot videos for her YouTube channel, advised her to record the man’s gestures for proof. The teenager surreptitiously recorded her stepfather touching her inappropriately. Her mother was also captured on camera asking the man to wait until he married her daughter.
Finally, on December 13, 2021, amid such harassment, her neighbours dialled the police control room. An FIR was registered with Vivekanandnagar police station against the mother and the stepfather under Section 354A of the IPC and Pocso provisions.
Teen a sterling witness: Court
Following the trial, the special Pocso judge observed that the stepfather’s gestures in one of the videos “are sufficient to prove that he was bent on satiating his perversions without even caring for the relationship between him and the victim, who may be his stepdaughter, but still a daughter nonetheless”.
The court considered the teenager a sterling witness and said her testimony could be believed without any corroboration.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
The teenager secretly videographed them in action and submitted the proof to the police. The irrefutable evidence and her solid testimony sent the couple to five years in rigorous imprisonment under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso).
Following Covid disruptions, she went to live with her mother (52) and stepfather (38) in Geratpur in December 2021. She is the youngest of four daughters; the three elder ones were married. Immediately after she moved into the house, her stepfather began making sexual advances towards her. When she complained about her stepfather’s misbehaviour, her mother brushed aside her grievances and told her he would marry her soon.
The teen discussed the issue with a couple living nearby. The couple, who knew she often used to shoot videos for her YouTube channel, advised her to record the man’s gestures for proof. The teenager surreptitiously recorded her stepfather touching her inappropriately. Her mother was also captured on camera asking the man to wait until he married her daughter.
Finally, on December 13, 2021, amid such harassment, her neighbours dialled the police control room. An FIR was registered with Vivekanandnagar police station against the mother and the stepfather under Section 354A of the IPC and Pocso provisions.
Teen a sterling witness: Court
Following the trial, the special Pocso judge observed that the stepfather’s gestures in one of the videos “are sufficient to prove that he was bent on satiating his perversions without even caring for the relationship between him and the victim, who may be his stepdaughter, but still a daughter nonetheless”.
The court considered the teenager a sterling witness and said her testimony could be believed without any corroboration.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
