By: Express News ServiceMumbai | September 29, 2025 01:27 AM IST 2 min readThe court rejected the contention of the accused that the girls were mistaken in identifying him as the culprit as the accused had his head under water (Representative image)A 35-YEAR-OLD man was sentenced to three years in jail by a special court on September 24 for sexually harassing two minor girls inside a public swimming pool in the city in 2020. The court rejected the contention of the accused that the girls were mistaken in identifying him as the culprit as the accused had his head under water.According to the prosecution, on March 6, 2020, a 12-year-old girl, studying in Class 7, was swimming in the pool, when a person touched her inappropriately. She got out of the pool and informed the female trainer about the incident and pointed towards the accused. The girl’s parents were called. Another girl, who also swam in the pool, also spoke up about facing similar harassment by the same man. As the girls were frightened, police were informed on the next day, and an offence was registered.During the trial, the accused claimed that he was falsely implicated and that he was wrongly identified as the culprit. The accused said that the victim had deposed that there were around 30 persons in the pool at that time, and he claimed that he was swimming freestyle where the swimmer’s head remains under water. Therefore, he said, the victims may not have had the opportunity to see the culprit’s face clearly.The court said that the deposition of the victim and the swimming trainer, showed that immediately after the incident she had informed the trainer and identified the person. “So immediately after the incident, the victim identified the accused and also identified that accused before the court,” special judge B S Gare said, adding that the evidence shows that the victim had seen the person.The accused also said that there were discrepancies in the victims’ statements, claiming that they had deposed differently on when they visited police station. “The mere discrepancy in the evidence of witnesses on the point of visit to the police station on March 6, 2020, is not material which creates doubt about the credibility of these witnesses,” the court said.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:sexual harassment