Football coach gets 20 years RI for raping girl of his own team

Jaipur: A POCSO court awarded 20 years jail term to the former coach of Himachal Pradesh' Under-16 football team for raping a player of his own team in August 2019 when the team was in Ajmer to play a tournament..

A penalty worth Rs 60,000 has also been slapped on accused by the court.

The victim meanwhile kept quite after the incident till 2021, however at her boarding school in Kasauli, she attended a webinar where judges were speaking on crime against minors. Here the girl felt like reporting the incident to punish the accused. She first informed her warden and then got this complaint filed at Kasauli police station in Himachal Pradesh.

As crime was reported in Ajmer, the case was sent to Ajmer SP. Adarsh Nagar police station registered a case and then recorded her statement.

Special prosecutor Rupendra Parihar said that Adarsh Nagar police arrested the coach in June 2021 and a chargesheet was filed in this case in July next year. Total19 witnesses and 41 documents were produced in court during trial.

Parihar further mentioned that court observed in its judgement that this was an example of benefits of awareness programmes run by judicial department, police and other organisations on crime against children.