TIRUNELVELI: An autorickshaw driver, who was found guilty of abducting a 16-year-old girl with the promise of marrying her and raping her repeatedly, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the special court for exclusive trial of cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act on Saturday.
Special public prosecutor of the court said that the girl, a school dropout, is from a village near Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli district. The accused was 27 years old when the incident took place in November 2016.
The girl’s parents used to leave the house early in the morning to run their eatery, leaving the minor alone at home. The girl went missing from her house on November 14, 2016, and her parents lodged a complaint with the police. During inquiry the police came to know that she was abducted by the auto driver with the promise of marrying her.
“He took her to a lodge in Tirunelveli where they stayed three days, before he took her to Mumbai for a few days and back to his sister’s house in Tirunelveli. He raped her in all these places on multiple occasions,” the special public prosecutor said and added that the case had a few challenges during the trial phase.
The case of girl missing registered based on the complaint lodged by her parents was altered to section 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage, etc) of the Indian Penal Code and 5(l) (committing penetrative sexual assault on the child repeatedly) read with 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Pocso Act.
On completion of the trial, the special court awarded him 20 years imprisonment under the Pocso Act and three years to be served concurrently as he was found guilty under section 366 IPC. A fine of 20,000 was also slapped on him, failing to pay which would result in extension of the jail term by a few months.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
