A Hyderabad man was sentenced to 30 years in jail for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl in 2018. The court sentenced Dippu Kumar Srivastav for luring a minor girl to his home and sexually assaulting her. He was caught by the survivor’s mother while committing the crime.
The Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court on Wednesday pronounced 20-year rigorous imprisonment under sections of the POCSO Act. The court also added another 10 years to the sentence, for kidnapping and for the sexual assault. He was also fined Rs 12,000. Failure to pay the fine could result in an additional 12 months in jail.
On May 25, 2018, the four-year-old girl was sent to a Kirana store to buy shampoo packets. however, she did not return home in the next 20 minutes. The worried mother went to the Kirana store in search of her child. The shopkeeper told her that the child had gone with Dippu, and directed her to the man’s residence.
According to the chargesheet filed by the police with the court, the child was crying when the mother approached the house. While the mother rescued her daughter, Dippu fled from the scene of the crime. The mother then approached the Jubilee Hills police station with a formal complaint. He was later apprehended by the Jubilee Hills police.
Dippu was booked under Section 42 (rape of any child below 12 years of age), under section 9 and section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO). He was also booked under section 354 (outrage of modesty) section 363 (for kidnapping) of the IPC.
On December 8, four men, who are natives of Odisha and working at brick kilns in Telangana were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for the gangrape of a woman who worked alongside them. In July, a 19-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years for attempting to murder a teenage girl for rejecting his proposal in 2019. In February, the Hyderabad metropolitan sessions court sentenced Azmath Khan, a resident of Golconda to 30 years imprisonment for the sexual assault of a five-year-old in 2018.