Thane: A special POCSO court in Maharashtra’s Thane district has sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment after holding him guilty of sexually abusing his nine-year-old daughter, a case their neighbour had exposed.In his order on Tuesday, Judge DS Deshmukh of the court dealing with cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act also fined the 35-year-old convict Rs 50,000.Special Public Prosecutor Sandhya H Mhatre told the court that the man used to sexually abuse his daughter when his wife was away and after driving away their other children.In August 2020, a neighbour, who had observed a change in the girl’s behaviour, persuaded the minor to share her ordeal. The 20-year-old neighbour then approached the police, ensuring the man’s arrest.Mr Mhatre said six prosecution witnesses, including the neighbour, deposed in the court. The girl and her mother were not among the witnesses, she said. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NEWSWALLA staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)