The Thiruvananthapuram Fast Track Special Court sentenced a shopkeeper to eight years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting a minor boy who had come to his outlet to purchase a notebook.
Special Judge R. Jayakrishnan found S. Uthaman, 63, of Pothujanam Lane, Kumarapuram guilty of the alleged crime that had taken place in March 2015.
Uthaman has been sentenced to five years of imprisonment and a fine of ₹25,000 under Section 377 (unnatural offences – carnal intercourse against the order of nature) of Indian Penal Code and three years of imprisonment and a fine of ₹25,000 under Section 7 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, 2012.
While the court has also fixed the default sentences at three months each, the period of sentences shall run concurrently. The convicted accused has been sent to the Central Prison in Poojappura.
According to the prosecution led by special public prosecutor R.S. Vijay Mohan, the incident occurred when the survivor, who was then a Class V student and aged 10 years, had gone to his mother’s ancestral house under the Medical College police station limits on March 13, 2015.
He went to Uthaman’s shop nearby to purchase a notebook. The accused sexually assaulted him in the premises and threatened him against speaking out against the sexual violence. The child, however, revealed his ordeal to his mother the next day, following which the Medical College police registered a case and arrested Uthaman on March 16. While he was released on bail around two months later, he has been free since.
During the trial, the defendant raised various allegations including a previous enmity with the survivor’s uncle that prompted them to hoist a false case. However, no evidence was adduced by the accused to prove the claim. The prosecution presented 14 witnesses and 16 exhibits during the trial.
