A court in West Bengal’s Birbum district on Thursday sentenced a Bangladeshi national for life imprisonment convicted of rape on a teenager who had come to study from the neighbouring country at Viswa Bharati University, Santiniketan.
Safiqul lsam, a Ph.D scholar of the Central University was convicted among other offences of criminal intimidation, voluntary causing hurt, wrongful confinement and Section four of POCSO Act dealing with sexual assault on a minor.
The complainant, had come from Bangladesh and taken admission in Class XII at Patha Bhavan in Santiniketan in 2014. A complaint of sexual assault was lodged at Bolpur police station by father of the teenager December 2014.
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“The accused forcibly took the teenage girl to his rented apartment at Gurupally in Santiniketan and raped her. He also clicked photographs and video of the girl and threatened to upload it,” State’s counsel Syed Samildul Alam told journalists.
Mr Islam said that after the incident in August 2014, for months the youth forced the girl into sexual relationship, threatening to upload the videos in the Internet.
Judge of Second District and Session Court at Suri, Mahananda Das also directed the State government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the complainant as per provisions of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act ( POCSO) Act.
Though the accused was convicted of his offence on Wednesday, the quantum of punishment was pronounced during the day.
