Mangaluru: The Second Additional District and Sessions Court sentenced a 44-year-old man with 7 years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a penalty of Rs 20,000 on him after finding him guilty of raping a minor girl.
The convict is Hameed, a resident of Katipalla near Suratkal. According to the chargesheet filed at court, Hameed was working as a daily wager. He befriended the victim, who was a minor and living with her mother in Suratkal police station limits. Later, he started sexual harassing her despite her opposition.
The accused Hameed had been to the victim’s rented house when none was at home on February 22, 2014 and raped her. He also threatened her of dire consequences if she revealed the matter to anybody. When she conceived, Hameed promised of marrying her and succeeded in getting an abortion by forcing her to consume pills.
When Hameed refused to marry her, the victim filed a complaint at Suratkal police station. The then inspector of Suratkal police station M A Nataraj nabbed the accused and filed a chargesheet at the court.
When the case came for hearing at the Second Additional District and Sessions Court, Judge Pallavi B R upheld the arguments of Special Public Prosecutor Venkatramana Swamy and convicted the accused with 7 years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 under IPC Section 376 (Rape) and under the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Section 4. If the accused is unable to pay the penalty amount, he should undergo an additional six months of rigorous imprisonment.
The accused should undergo 7 years of rigorous imprisonment and pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 under IPC Section 313 (Causing miscarriage without woman’s consent). However, both punishments will run concurrently. Of the penalty amount, Rs 15,000 should be provided to the victim. Meanwhile, the victim is eligible to get a compensation from the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), the judge ruled.
