Surat: The special court under POCSO has sentenced a tantric named Akmal Baba in Surat with lifetime imprisonment for raping a mother and daughter.

A labourer living in Pandesara had consulted tantric Akmal Baba, running a tantrik vidhi at Khwaja Dana Dargah in 2017 for treatment of his dizziness. He gave him a tavij and called him every 15 days. Akmal Bab then called the labourer’s wife after he didn’t recover and raped her in a room inside his shop. He also started calling his 14-year old daughter and raped her. The convict repeatedly raped both mother and daughter. The daughter informed the matter to her school teacher, who then conveyed it to the then local corporator of Udhna, Somnath Marathe. He filed a complaint at the police station after confirming with the victims.

Government pleader Nayan Sukhadwala said that the tantric has taken misadvantage of the constraint of the victims under the name of religion. The court sentenced the convict with lifetime imprisonment and penalty of Rs 20,000 under section 376 (2) and 506 (2), Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and additional 7 years imprisonment under 506 (2). The total penalty of Rs 31 thousand is charged out of which Rs 15 thousand will be paid to the victim minor female as redemption. The redemption of Rs 4 lakh will be paid to mother and daughter each. DeshGujarat