A special court, on Tuesday, sentenced a youth in his mid-twenties to ten years rigorous imprisonment for sodomising a seven-year-old boy from his neighbourhood.
Designated judge under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act AD Deo convicted him for aggravated penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him. The court also directed that the case be referred for compensation to the victim boy under the state’s victim compensation scheme.
As per the police complaint lodged in 2015 on May 1, the child was playing in the lane outside his home. The youth had closed his mouth and taken him to a backside lane. There, he had partially undressed the child and himself before sodomising him. The crime came to light when the child complained of abdominal pain to his mother. After being taken into confidence by parents, he revealed the matter. The report was filed after a few days when the child pointed out at the youth, when he was passing by his father’s shop, as the person who assaulted him. The father had then caught hold of the youth and taken him to the police.
The youth had been granted bail in September 2015 after four months in custody as he was then 20 years old. The court had opined that, considering his age, further detention will bring him in contact with hardened criminals.
