BOMBAY HIGH COURT UPHOLDS CONVICTION OF GODMAN WHO RAPED DEVOTEE The Bombay High Court recently upheld the conviction of a man claiming to be devotee of Macchindranath, for having sexually abused a female devotee under the garb of "blessing her with a child" [Yogesh Pandurang Kupekar v. State of Maharashtra] Single-judge Justice CV Bhadang noted in his judgment that such incidents happen due to the blind faith of devotees on people like the accused; and the evidence in such cases also has to be appreciated in the context of the peculiar factual matrix. The female devotee and her husband had allegedly been suggested to approach the accused to resolve their problems of having a child post their marriage. The accused came to be charged under Section 376 (rape) and 354 (sexual assault) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act. The trial concluded and the accused was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for ten years and with a fine. The Judge, however, noted that the incident had occurred before the amendment to Section 376 of the IPC in 2018 when the prescribed sentence was of 7 years. Hence the sentence of 10 years was modified to 7 years while the conviction was maintained. Reddy & amp; Reddy Law Firm is team of experts in various fields of law and will help you in all Criminal Cases.