A POCSO Court in Panaji has sentenced Sanjay Naik, a resident of Mapusa, to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs. 25,000 for raping a woman under the pretext of marriage between 2017 and 2018.
Despite the rape survivor’s testimony that she is now happily married to another man and had reached an out-of-court settlement with the accused after he paid her money, the court ruled that such a heinous crime cannot be settled monetarily. “The photographs and WhatsApp messages clearly establish her case,” stated Durga V Madkaikar, the presiding officer of the fast track special court (POCSO).
