Teacher Sentenced To Life For Sexually Assaulting Woman

The accused, Mohmad Azuruddin of Karatagi, was found guilty on February 27 by the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Gangavathi, which also imposed heavy fines for various offences, including outraging modesty, criminal intimidation and violation of privacy under the IT Act.

The accused was working as a teacher in a government higher primary school when the crime occurred. He befriended the victim woman who had a differently abled daughter. The accused gained her trust by promising to arrange home tuition for her child and help her get government benefits.

Using this as a pretext, he sexually assaulted her and secretly recorded the act on his mobile phone. He later threatened to make the video viral if she refused to comply with his sexual demands and continued to rape her on several occasions.

When the woman objected to the blackmail, the accused allegedly assaulted her with a slipper on June 30, 2022, abused her in filthy language, pulled her saree and hair and humiliated her. He also circulated the video clip of the sexual assault on social media.

After hearing the witnesses and examining the evidence, the court held the accused guilty under Sections 376(2)(n), 354, 355, 323, 504 and 506 of the IPC and Section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act.

The case was tried before the First Additional District and Sessions Court in Gangavathi. After examining the evidence of witnesses and documentary records, Judge Sadananda Nagappa Naik held the accused guilty and passed the sentence.

The court sentenced the accused to life imprisonment for the offence under Section 376(2)(n) of the IPC and imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh. In case of failure to pay the fine within three months, he will have to undergo an additional two years of simple imprisonment.

For the offence under Section 354 of the IPC, he was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh. Under Section 355 of the IPC, the court awarded one year’s imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000. He was also sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine under Section 323 of the IPC.

For the offence under Section 504 of the IPC, the accused was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000. For offence under Section 506 of the IPC, he was awarded one year’s imprisonment and a fine of Rs 20,000. Under Section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the court sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

The court directed the accused to pay a total compensation of Rs 5.50 lakh to the victim woman and Rs 50,000 to the State Government.

Public Prosecutor Nagalakshmi S argued the case for the State. Police personnel from Karatagi police station assisted in the investigation and ensured the production of witnesses during the trial.