Representational image | Photo: Mathrubhumi
Idukki: A fast track court in Kerala on Tuesday sentenced a 66-year old man to 81 years imprisonment for repeatedly raping and impregnating a minor girl in Idukki district of the state.
Special Judge T G Varghese imposed a sentence of 20 years on the convict for each of the offences of penetrative sexual assault and repeated rape of the minor girl, 30 years for impregnating her and five years for aggravated sexual assault of a minor under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court while imposing the sentence said the offences committed by the accused would leave "an everlasting, continuing, physical, emotional and traumatic impact on the future of PW2 (minor victim)".
"The offences committed on her will adversely impact on her future education, family life and health. Viewed from this angle, though the offenses were not committed in a brutal manner, the consequences arising from the acts of the accused has brutal consequences.
"Hence, imposing minimum sentence will not serve the interest of justice," the court said declining to show leniency in the sentence to be imposed.
The court also said that considering the fact that the victim was a minor and the accused an aged man, "even some leniency does not deserve to be shown".
The court also imposed on him a sentence of five years for the offence of kidnapping a woman to induce her to illicit intercourse and one year for molestation under the IPC.
It also imposed upon him a fine of Rs 2.2 lakh.
However, as the sentences have to be served by the convict concurrently, he would be serving the highest jail term of 30 years imposed on him for impregnating the girl, Special Public Prosecutor S S Saneesh said.
Saneesh said that the ordeal being faced by the child came to light when on being taken to the hospital in October 2020, the doctors found that she was nearly six months pregnant. She was 15 years old then.
Subsequently, after the Child Welfare Committee also intervened, she disclosed to the police that the accused, who was a neighbour and well known to her parents, used to sexually assault and rape her since she was in class 3, the prosecutor said.
She never told anyone about the years long sexual abuse as the accused used to buy her candy, gave her money occasionally, was a frequent visitor to their home and was otherwise nice to her.
Even her parents or other family members suspected nothing.
In April 2020, the accused had accosted the girl while she was going to buy milk and again raped her in a nearby abandoned house and it was a result of that sexual assault that she become pregnant, the prosecutor said.
The victim also underwent medical termination of pregnancy and samples of the foetus were preserved for DNA analysis which proved that the accused was the perpetrator, Saneesh said.
The prosecutor further said that the man was convicted based on the victim's statement and the DNA evidence.
PTI
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