THRISSUR: The Thrissur district fast track special court has sentenced a teacher in a private institute in the district for five years of rigorous imprisonment for sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl student who was studying at the institute.
The special court judge, Bindu Sudhakaran, has also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on the accused, Arun, son of Melitt Lohithakashan Ancheri near Ollur. If the accused remitted the fine, the amount should be given to the girl. If the accused fails to remit the fine, he will have to undergo six months of additional imprisonment, the judge said in the order.
According to special public prosecutor K P Ajayakumar, the incident had taken place on April 9, 2015. The girl had joined the institute for vacation classes in spoken English. The teacher had sexually assaulted the girl when no other students were present, the prosecutor said.
The court has pronounced the order after examining the CCTV visuals on that day apart from the material evidence submitted by the prosecution as well as the statements of eight witnesses, Ajayakumar said.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)