Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (HB/EP)
Udupi, May 12: A Fast-Track Special Court (FTSC) for POCSO cases coming under Udupi district additional and sessions court has sentenced an accused to 10 years in jail for sexually harassing a six-year-old girl. The verdict was delivered by judge Ermalu Kalpana.
The accused identified as Santhosh K (35) has been sentenced to 10 years in jail along with a fine of Rs 20,000. Of which, Rs 15,000 will be handed over to the victim and the remaining Rs 5,000 will be paid to the government. The court has ordered the payment of another one lac rupees by the legal services authority as compensation to the victim.
Representational image
Santhosh was the owner of the house where the minor and her parents lived as tenants. The incident occurred in February 2019 in Karkala police station limits. The victim had informed her mother about it. The then PSI Nanja Naik of Karkala police station had arrested the accused and conducted primary investigations on the basis of a complaint from the victim's mother. Back then Karkala circle police inspector V S Halamurthy had submitted a chargesheet to the court.
10 witnesses out of 19 were questioned in the court. The judge who heard the arguments declared the accused guilty.
The special public prosecutor of Udupi POCSO court Y T Raghavendra had argued for the prosecution.