The 2 Additional District and Sessions Judge Uma M.G. on Saturday awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment to a 28-year-old man who has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
This is the first conviction invoking provisions of the newly enacted Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
According to prosecutor C. Venkataramana Swamy, the 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by her neighbour Anil in October 2012 and January 2013 in her house in Puttur taluk.
Her mother got to know of the assault when she was brought her daughter for examination at the Lady Goschen Hospital where the doctors revealed that she was pregnant.
On a complaint before the Kadaba police, the then Assistant Superintendent of Police Sadanand Vernekar arrested Anil and investigated the case. As many as 11 witnesses were examined by the prosecution.
The Judge relied on the statement of the girl to convict Anil for the offence under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and sentenced him to undergo ten years rigorous imprisonment. The Judge has convicted Anil for sexual assault (376), criminal intimidation (506) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Judge has imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on the man for the assault.
Kidnapping arrestsA group of eight men were arrested by the city police early on Saturday for allegedly kidnapping and forcing a couple into indecent positions, the pictures of which were used to blackmail them.
Of the eight men, three have criminal cases in Mulki Police Station. The identity of the men, however, will be kept under wraps till the identification parade is completed. The court has remanded them to three days in police custody.
Around 11 p.m. on December 18, as the two students – a boy from Kerala and a girl from Bihar – were returning in a private car to their hostel, they were gheraoed and kidnapped by the men who brandished weapons.
The two were taken to a secluded spot where they were forced into compromising positions – after being threatened and assault. The students were photographed and blackmailed to give Rs. 25 lakh. A case was registered at the Konaje police station. The eight have been booked in a range of cases including kidnapping, dacoity (as the men stole mobile phones and cash from the students), criminal force to outrage the modesty of a woman, attempt to murder, among others. Soft copies of the videos and pictures clicked by the accused have been recovered and the police are investigating if these have been uploaded online.
Woman dies in accidentA woman died after being thrown from of a scooter being driven by her son at Mabukala village coming under the Brahmavar police station limits on Saturday.
According to the police, Raghuram Holla was driving his scooter from Saligrama to Udupi, with his mother Nagaratna (60) as the pillion rider at around 00:15 am on Saturday.
But due to his rash and negligent driving, Nagaratna got thrown from the scooter.
She was rushed to a private hospital in Brahmavar and later shifted to a private hospital in Manipal, where she died at around 3.15 a.m. due to serious injuries.
A case had been registered in Brahmavar police station, the police said.
Theft at houseThieves broke into a house at Mundkur village in Karkala taluk and made good with cash and gold ornaments in the early hours of Saturday. According to the police, thieves broke into the house of B. Dinesh at Mundkur village between midnight and 4 a.m. and decamped with gold ornaments whose worth is estimated at Rs. 1.5 lakh and cash of Rs. 50,000.
A case had been registered and investigations were on, the police said.
