Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Sessions Court-1, Mangaluru, Manjula Itty, on Friday sentenced Davalsab Tahasildar, 34, a former conductor of KSRTC bus, to two years in jail on finding him guilty of sexual harassment of a minor in 2023.
The judge sentenced Tahasildar to two years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹15,000 for the offence punishable under Section 12 of the POCSO Act. In default of payment of fine, Tahasildar will undergo further simple imprisonment for three months. The period of detention already undergone by Tahasildar during investigation, enquiry or trial in this case shall be set off as per Section 428 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC), 1973, the judge said.
According to the chargesheet, Tahasildar showed the minor girl, a native of Bantwal town, a book containing pornographic content and made some inappropriate signals to her. This happened when the girl was returning home in the bus and there were few passengers in the bus. Following a compliant by the girl’s mother, the Bantwal Town police arrested Tahashildar and later filed the chargesheet.
In the judgement, the judge said out of the ₹15,000 fine amount, ₹12,000 will be paid to the minor girl as compensation under Section 357 of Cr.PC.
Special Public Prosecutor P. Sahana Devi Bolur represented the prosecution.
