Mumbai: A Catholic priest has been sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a boy in 2015 in a church in Maharashtra capital Mumbai. The convict Father Jhonson Lawrence was sentenced by a special court under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The victim was 13-year-old at the time of the crime. The priest was arrested by Mumbai Police in December 2015. He has been lodged in prison since then.
Father Johnson was found guilty under Sections 6 and 12 of POCSO Act. Nine witnesses were examined by special public prosecutor Seema Jadhav to prove the case against the priest, according to a report in Times of India.
In his defence, the accused completely denied any wrongdoing. The priest's lawyer Avinash Rasal argued that there was no evidence against his client and examined two defence witnesses.
One of the defence witnesses claimed at least seven people were present in the Church when the alleged crime was said to have happened.
Rasal also argued that there was no trace of semen or blood on the bedsheet or clothes of the accused.
According to the complaint by the victim's parents, he used to regularly visit the church to pray. "One day in August 2015, the boy was asked to stay alone in the church when he was allegedly abused," the complaint stated.
The boy was from economically weaker background and did not inform his parents immediately fearing consequences. He later fell sick and had to be hospitalised. The victim's behaviour changed and he felt scared and did not reveal his ordeal to his parents when they asked him if anything went wrong.
The boy's father said the victim was again sodomised by the priest in November 2015 when the accused asked him to take a box to his office in the evening and threatened him to stay mum on the sexual abuse.
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