Kerala High Court | Photo: Mathrubhumi archives
Kochi: The Kerala High Court upheld the order of the trial court sentencing a man, who sexually assaulted his own daughter, to life imprisonment without any remission till last breath. The punishment awarded under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was repealed due to absence of documents to prove the survivor’s age. The punishment sentenced by the trial court on grounds of other provisions were approved by the division bench consisting of justice K Vinod Chandran and justice C Jayachandran.
The 44-year-old accused had filed an appeal in the High Court against the order issued by the Additional Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram. The child was abused by her father continuously for two years when she was studying in seventh standard. The accused sent his wife outside citing some reason to sexually assault his daughter during this time. He threatened the daughter that he would kill her if she revealed this to anyone. Later, the incident surfaced when the girl informed her teacher about the assaults that she suffered when studying in the eighth standard. Soon, the teacher passed the information to Childline and the child’s father was arrested.
In his appeal, the father cited that the survivor’s statements are not trustworthy. But the division bench discarded this. The charges under POCSO Act were scrapped as the Court observed that the age-proof certificate of the survivor submitted by the school headmistress was void.
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