A special court in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) has sentenced a man to three life imprisonment for repeatedly sexually assaulting his six-year-old daughter in July 2023.
The Judge
Fast Track Special Court (FTSC) judge R Rekha sentenced the 40-year-old man to life imprisonment for each of the offences under sections 5(l) (penetrative sexual assault on a child repeatedly), 5(m) (penetrative sexual assault on a child below 12 years) and 5(n) (sexual assault of child by a relative through blood or adoption..) of the POCSO Act.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP)
Special public prosecutor (SPP) R S Vijay Mohan stated that the father was also additionally sentenced to varying sentences under various provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and the IPC for a total of 21 years.
Additionally, the court also levied a fine of Rs 90,000 on the accused.
However, as the punishments have to be undergone concurrently, the accused father will serve a life sentence, the prosecutor stated.
As per the Prosecutor, in the order, the court observed that he is a stain on the trust associated with fatherhood.
It also remarked that a father who is believed to protect his daughter has committed such a heinous crime.
The special judge further observed that such an act can never be justified as through such a crime, the childhood of the victim has been lost.
The Heinous Crime
The incident occurred in July 2023 when the victim’s mother was working in the Gulf region and the girl was living in her father and maternal grandmother’s homes.
As per the SPP, the child was sexually assaulted when she was staying with her father.
According to the victim child, her father took her inside a room by promising to show her the mobile phone and then sexually assaulted the child.
As the girl felt pain in her private parts as a result of the assault, she told her grandmother who took her to a doctor, the prosecutor said.
The girl child informed the doctor what happened, and on the doctor’s instructions, complaint has been registered.
Additionally, the victim’s 15-year-old sister testified in the court that the father used to behave inappropriately when he came home drunk.
The trial in the case started on March 29, 2024 and was completed within a month, the SPP added.
