Thane: A farmer has been sentenced for life by a court in Maharashtra for sexually abusing and killing a 17-year-old girl in 2014. District Judge H M Patwardhan on Monday pronounced Shankar Bhogade guilty.
He was charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 (rape), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 5,500 on him.
Additional Public Prosecutor Ujjwala Moholkar told the court that the farmer from Thane's Jawhar taluk was already married but was involved in a relationship with the girl.
He raped her on several occasions following which she became pregnant. The accused then asked the victim to consume a pill to terminate the pregnancy.
The girl however, wanted the accused to allow her to live with his wife and continue her education, but he opposed it.
On July 20, 2014, the accused offered the girl a poison-laced drink while telling her that he had mixed an abortion pill in it.
After consuming the drink, the girl felt drowsy. The accused then strangulated her to death and hung the body from a window rod to make it appear as a case of suicide, the prosecution told the court.
The accused also forged a suicide note in her notebook, blaming a third person for her ordeal and stating that she was ending her life by consuming poison.
A handwriting expert proved in court that the suicide note was forged and the accused wrote it to hide the crime.
The judge held that the prosecution proved all charges beyond reasonable doubt against the accused who "needs to be punished".
