Tamil Nadu: Youth gets 14-year rigorous imprisonment for sexual assualt

Chennai: The special court for cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso Act) 2012 has sentenced a youth to undergo 14 years of rigorous imprisonment on a charge of sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl. Mahila court judge R. Kalaimathi has directed the government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the victim under section 33 (8) of Pocso Act.

According to special public prosecutor Gowri Asokan, the girl was studying in class 6. Her mother requested her to get a cellphone charger from a nearby house on June 19, 2014. After knocking the door, S. Sankar, 26, invited her into to the house and in the pretext of giving her the charger he sexually assaulted her.

She returned home crying and on enquiry, she informed her mother about the incident. Learning this, local residents attacked him and handed him over to the police. On a complaint Teynampet all women police registered a case against him under section 6 of Pocso Act.

On completion of the trial, the judge sentenced him to undergo RI for 14 years and slapped him with a fine of Rs 5,000. The judge also directed the government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the girl.