In a rare judgment, a special court for exclusive trial of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act cases in Chennai has sentenced to death a 48-year-old man found guilty of repeatedly raping and impregnating his minor daughter. His wife, who was found guilty of abetting the crime by not reporting it to the police, was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment.
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The convict was living with his wife and daughter in Velachery. The prosecution charged that he committed “penetrative sexual assault” on the child from the time she was seven years old in 2011.
Pregnancy and abortion
He repeatedly raped her till 2019, and the girl became pregnant when she was 15 years old. The accused got the pregnancy aborted, and his wife allegedly abetted the crime.
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In 2019, when the girl was in Class XI, she complained to her classmates about the aggravated assault. Later, it was reported to a children’s helpline, and on a complaint from a member of the Child Welfare Committee, the all-women police, Guindy, registered a case under the provisions of the POCSO Act and arrested her parents.
The case was tried before the Special Court on the Madras High Court campus. Special Judge M. Rajalakshmi convicted the parents for charges filed by the police and awarded the death sentence to the father and life term to the mother.
(Childline operates a toll-free helpline for children in distress - 1098)