A Kerala court on Wednesday sentenced a 27-year-old man to a cumulative 46 years imprisonment for raping a girl three years ago in Palakkad. The incident happened in 2019 when the man broke into the girl's home in Kongad town at night, took her to a field near her house, and committed the offence.
However, the convict will only serve 20 years in jail as the sentences are to run concurrently.
Fast Track Special Court judge A G Satish Kumar sentenced the accused to 20 years imprisonment for each of the offences of rape of child under 12 years of age under Section 376 AB of the Indian Penal Code and repeated aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child under Section 5(l) of the POCSO Act.
Besides, the court also sentenced the man to three years imprisonment for each of the offences of kidnapping under Section 363 of IPC and sexual assault under Section 7 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and three months for criminal trespass under Section 447 of IPC.
The court also imposed a total fine of Rs 2.75 lakh on the accused.
The order was confirmed by Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the Pattambi POCSO court, Nisha Vijayakumar.
The SPP said the incident occurred in 2019 when the accused broke in to the house of the victim, who was 5-and-a-half years old then, at night and took her to a nearby field and raped her.
The court also directed the district legal services authority to pay victim compensation to the child, the SPP said.
The prosecutor said 16 witnesses were examined in the case and 15 documents were produced before the court during the trial.