Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Sessions Court-1, Mangaluru, Savitri V. Bhat has sentenced Naveen (27) of Shibaje village of Belthangady taluk to 10 years rigorous imprisonment on finding him guilty of raping a minor girl. He was earlier sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for raping the minor girl’s elder sister.
According to the charge-sheet, Naveen was arrested by the Dharmasthala Police in 2017 for raping the minor girl’s elder sister, when she was a minor. After coming out on bail, Naveen married the girl’s sister when she turned 19. Also, he lived in their house.
In the last week of February 2019, Naveen is said to have raped his wife’s younger sister. He is said to have subsequently assaulted her sexually six more times.
She became pregnant and was taken to the Government Lady Goschen Hospital where she underwent abortion. A case was registered against Naveen and he was arrested by the Dharmasthala Police again.
The blood samples of the victim, foetus and Naveen were subjected to DNA test and Naveen was found to be the cause of the girl’s pregnancy.
The Belthangady Police then filed the charge-sheet charging Naveen with offences under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (PoCSO) Act.
Special Public Prosecutor C. Venkataramanaswamy examined several witnesses, including DNA expert who was a crucial prosecution witness. The minor girl, however, turned hostile.
The judge on September 9 sentenced Naveen to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹5,000 for the offence under Section 6 of PoCSO Act. He was also sentenced to seven years in jail and ordered to pay a fine of ₹5,000 for the offence under Section 376 of IPC. Both the sentences will run concurrently.
As the victim had turned hostile, no compensation was awarded under the Karnataka Victim Compensation Scheme.
