it encouraged him to commit further offences.
An Indian student has been sentenced to three years in prison after he was convicted of molesting a young girl.
It was heard that the 21-year-old molested the victim on two occasions before he was arrested.
It was revealed that the victim was a class 10 student at a school in the Masturi area of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.
The perpetrator, Vimal Kumar Bhardwaj, used to keep a close eye on her and even followed her.
On the evening of November 18, 2019, the young girl was home alone when Bhardwaj made his way into the house. He then started molesting her.
When she started screaming, Bhardwaj stopped and ran out of the house.
The victim told her mother about the incident when she returned home. She then told her husband, however, he did not believe her and started verbally abusing her.
When Bhardwaj found out, it encouraged him to commit further offences.
The second incident happened on December 6, 2019, at around 6 pm.
The girl was walking near the veranda of her house when the Indian student blocked her path.
He then started molesting her. Bhardwaj then grabbed her hands and told her “I love you”. He went on to suggest that they should get married.
The young girl complained to her parents but Bhardwaj continued to harass her.
This prompted them to lodge a complaint at the police station. A case was registered and Bhardwaj was subsequently arrested.
He was produced before the court and his trial was underway after the case was fast-tracked.
On Tuesday, February 18, 2020, Bhardwaj was found guilty of molestation and was jailed for three years. In addition, he was also fined Rs. 1,000 (£11).
Although the girl finally got justice, it would have come sooner if her father would have believed her.
There are numerous cases of molestation and sexual assaults in India, however, a lot of them go unreported, some of them due to the fact that family members refuse to believe the victims.
In one case, a woman was molested several times by her father-in-law in Gujarat.
Initially, she feared going to the police but soon became fed and decided to expose him.
She set up a camera and managed to film him inappropriately touching her.
After obtaining the footage, the woman showed the video to her in-laws.
Despite being shown the video, her husband and in-laws refused to believe the molestation allegations.
The father-in-law denied any wrongdoing, claiming that he was drunk when the video was made.
As a result, the young woman chose not to file a police complaint out of fear that they will also not believe her.