Coimbatore youth gets 16 years jail for sexual assault on minor girl 

August 14, 2022 05:46 pm | Updated 05:46 pm IST - COIMBATORE

The special court for the trial of cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Coimbatore, has sentenced a youth to undergo 16 years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting a minor girl after marrying her in 2018.

Special court judge G. Kulasekaran, on Friday, awarded the punishment to a 27-year-old man from a village near Madukkarai in the district.

The All Women Police Station (AWPS), Perur, arrested the accused on February 19, 2018 on charges of sexually assaulting the minor girl, who is related to him. The police said the girl discontinued studies after class X and was in a relationship with the accused. The accused and the girl eloped on February 7, 2018 and married.

The girl’s parents approached the police after she was reported missing. The police traced the girl and found that she was married. The youth, then aged 23, was arrested for offences under Sections 366 (Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 5(l) (penetrative sexual assault on the child more than once or repeatedly) read with Section 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Section 9 (punishment for male adult marrying a child) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. 

After the trial, the judgement was delivered on Friday. The court also slapped a fine of ₹ 25,000 on the youth.

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