Mumbai court jails contractor for 5 years for forcibly kissing four-year-old girl

A special POCSO court in Mumbai has taken a firm stand on crimes against children. It held that forcibly kissing a child is not love or affection but plain sexual abuse. On that basis, a 50-year-old contractor was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment. The case dates to March 2025.

The incident took place on March 3, 2025. A four-year-old girl was walking ahead of her mother towards a temple. The 50-year-old contractor seized the chance, caught hold of the girl, gripped her neck and hands and forcibly kissed her. According to the allegation, he also made a biting-like motion on her cheek and the back of her neck. Frightened and in pain, the girl began crying loudly. Hearing her, local people nearby rushed over, caught the accused on the spot and handed him over to the police.

The case was heard by Judge Richa D. Khedekar of the fast-track special court. The accused had argued in court that he kissed the girl only to show affection. The court did not accept this.

The court also explained the difference between a familiar person and a stranger. Young children are usually not wary of people they know. People from the family or acquaintances sometimes pick up children, pamper them and hand them back to the mother. In this case, however, the accused was a complete stranger and his act was highly perverse and unnatural, the court said.

The defence had said that the girl was only four and must have been tutored. The court rejected this too. It said the child's young age may place some limits on her testimony, but her statement after the incident, her body language and the medical evidence fully match one another and are reliable.

The accused's lawyers also claimed that he had done construction work at the complainant's house and was owed Rs 70,000 in wages, so he had been falsely implicated. The court rejected this because it was raised suddenly at the end of the trial and was backed by neither documents nor oral evidence. The court called it a story invented later.

The convict has been sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment. He has been in custody since the day of the incident, March 3, 2025, and that period will be set off against the total sentence. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000. If he fails to pay, he must serve a further two months of simple imprisonment. The court has also ordered Rs 5,000 in legal compensation for the child.

Pronouncing the verdict, Judge Khedekar said in very strong words that the sentence should be a clear message to society so that no one dares commit such a vile act against a minor in future. She said that in cases such as a grave assault on a four-year-old, strict law and justice from the very beginning would be what curbs such crimes.