THANE: A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has convicted a 47-year-old man for kidnapping a minor girl and sentenced him to 7 years in jail.
Additional Sessions Judge (Kalyan) P R Ashturkar, however, dropped rape charges pressed against Deepak, alias Ganesh Bhanudas Bhuktar, citing lack of evidence.
A copy of the order passed on April 8 was made available on Friday.
Ambernath resident Bhuktar was booked in March 2018 after being accused of kidnapping the 13-year-old girl and taking her to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, then Aurangabad.
Judge Ashturkar held that the minor's lack of consent or resistance was irrelevant in a kidnapping case.
The court also said that Bhuktar had secretly given her a phone, which was indicative of malicious intent.
The kidnapping charge has been proved beyond reasonable doubt, the court held. However, the court found the rape allegations lacked specific and clear evidence.
It said the girl and her mother failed to provide any specific details regarding the alleged sexual assault, including date, time, or place.
Furthermore, the medical evidence did not support forceful sexual assault, the court said, acquitting Bhuktar of rape charges under the Indian Penal Code (IP) and Protection of Children From Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court then convicted Bhuktar of kidnapping and sentenced him to seven years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on him.
Additional Public Prosecutor Sachin Kulkarni said six prosecution witnesses, including the teenager and her mother, were examined during the trial.