Udupi Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Sessions Court-1, Srinivasa Suvarna, on Saturday, February 4, sentenced 45-year-old Karate instructor Umesh Bangera to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a total fine of ₹22,000 on finding him guilty of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl at a karate class in Padubidri.
The Judge sentenced Bangera to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed fine of ₹10,000 each for the offence punishable under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act respectively. He was also sentenced to one year simple imprisonment and fined ₹1,000 each for offences punishable under Section 506 of IPC and Section 8 of POCSO Act respectively. All the sentences will run concurrently, the Judge said.
According to the chargesheet, Umesh Bangera raped the girl on February 12, 2020 after completion of Karate classes in Padubidri. On September 27, 2020, Bangera called the girl’s mother and asked her to send her daughter for the class. The girl refused to go to the class and revealed to her mother about the sexual assault.
Following her compliant, the then Circle Inspector of Police, Kaup, Mahesh Prasad arrested Bangera and filed chargesheet for offences punishable under provisions of IPC and POCSO Act. Special Pubic Prosecutor Y.T. Raghavendra examined 13 witnesses before the court.
In his order on Saturday, the Judge said that after Bangera deposits ₹22,000 fine amount, a sum of ₹17,000 shall be paid as compensation to the victim girl while the remaining ₹5,000 shall be confiscated to the State Exchequer.
Talking into consideration that the victim is a student and also of her mother works in a private firm and father works as agriculturist, the Judge said it was just and proper to grant compensation of ₹1 lakh to the girl by the government under Section 357 (A) of Criminal Procedure Code.
