The convict sexually assaulted the minor on 18 April, 2020, and threatened to kill her elder sister, father, and mother if she told anyone.
Published Jul 16, 2023 | 12:17 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 16, 2023 | 12:18 AM
Court - Representational Pic
A special Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court in the Vijaypura district of Karnataka on Friday, 14 July, sentenced a man to life imprisonment and ₹26,000 penalty after convicting him of sexually assaulting his wife’s minor sister in the Talikote taluk in 2020.
The Talikote police investigated the case promptly and submitted the charge sheet to the special POCSO court, having gathered ample evidence to prove that he was guilty of the crime.
Judge Ramanayaka, in charge of the Principal District and Sessions Court and also additional district judge and special POCSO court judge in Vijaypura, presided over the trial.
He convicted the accused and sentenced him to 20 years of life imprisonment with a fine of ₹26,000 as the charges were proved.
According to the case details, the convict, who worked as a cab driver, was married to a woman from the Talikote taluk.
Initially, while the woman stayed in the village, the convict used to work in Bengaluru. In the village, his wife had two minor sisters who were schoolgoing students.
The convict eventually took his wife to Bengaluru and lived in a rented house in the city.
In March 2020, the accused and his wife went to Talikote for a relative’s wedding. This was when the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown was declared, and the couple was stuck in the village.
At this time, one of the wife’s two minor sisters was left with the couple’s house while the other had to stay at a relative’s house.
On 18 April, 2020, when the wife had gone to the market, the convict sexually assaulted the minor. He then threatened to kill her elder sister, father, and mother if she told anyone about it.
Subsequently, when the lockdown was partially relaxed, the couple returned to Bengaluru for a few days.
Since the number of Covid-19 infections was on the rise in Bengaluru, the couple again went back to the village. There, the convict attempted to rape the minor girl again.
When their family came to know about this, they filed a case under the POCSO Act against him at the Talikote Police Station.
According to a report from March 2023, a total of 20,010 POCSO cases had been registered in Karnataka since the POCSO Act was introduced in 2012.
Among these, around 50 percent (9,940 cases, to be exact) are still in the trial stage as of March.
According to data from the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB), a conviction has taken place in only one-fifth of the cases where the trial has been completed. The actual number is 1,277 cases, the report stated.
The number of cases in which the accused were acquitted or those that were dismissed was 6,766.
A large number of cases were registered by the police where underage couples eloped and had consensual sex. – Such cases also led to acquittals.
