Hyderabad: A 26-year-old priest, a father of four children. was sent to jail for a decade years by the child friendly court on Thursday for sexually assaulting a 11-year-old girl.
According to the police, the assualt happened in October, 2014. The priest, Ramji Maharaj, used to visit the victim’s house to perform puja and gained the trust of her family. On the day of the sexual assult, he vistied victim’s house to perform homam and asked her parents to feed a cow. The couple left their child alone at home and went to a temple.
When they returned, the priest appeared to be in a hurry to leave the house. At about the same time, they heard their daughter crying. On asking her, she complained Ramji Maharaj had misbehaved with her. She said he had warned her not to tell anyone. If she did so, something bad will happen to her parents, the priest told her.
The parents immediately lodged a complaint with the Bowenpally police.
The child-friendly court took up the case. During the trial, evidence was taken up for consideration. Ms Spandana Sadasivuni, legal support officer, said, “All the evidence were against the accused. He pleaded the court that he had four children and he need to take care of them. The court opined that his defence could not be taken into consideration as the offence committed by him was grave in nature.”
First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge cum special judge for trial of offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, Hyderabad, Kunchala Sunitha sentenced Ramji Maharaj to ten years imprisonment and to pay of fine of Rs 3,000. The accused was found guilty under Sections 3, 4, 7 and 8 of the Pocso Act, 2012, and under IPC Sections 376(2) and 506 and convicted under Section 235(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
