The Fast Track Mahila Court has awarded life sentence to a 38-year-old man after convicting him in a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act case for raping a 14-year-old girl on the pretext of giving her asylum when she was found stranded in Paramakudi bus stand.
Holding that the prosecution – the All women police, Paramakudi has proved the case beyond reasonable doubt, Mahila Court Judge T. Bhagavathiammal convicted and sentenced the accused A Selvaraj, a brick kiln employee, to life imprisonment.
The judge also convicted him under section 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of the victim and awarded one year imprisonment. She also imposed him fine of ₹ 3,000, failing which he should undergo imprisonment for three more months. The judge ordered that the sentences would go concurrently.
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The prosecution case was that the victim studying class VIII in a government school had left the house on the night of June 30, 2014 after her parents, farm workers, scolded her for often watching television, instead of focussing on her studies.
In a fit of rage, she boarded a town bus and landed at the Paramakudi bus stand when the accused took her away on the pretext of taking her home and raped her. He took her to a secluded place near the bus stand and raped her, the prosecution said.
On finding the girl crying at the bus stand at the odd hour, a police party on night patrolling, rescued her after arresting the accused at the bus stand. On the next day, the Paramakudi All Women police registered a case. The accused, who was present in the court, was taken to the Madurai central prison after the judge pronounced the order.
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