A Mangaluru court on Thursday sentenced a 27-year-old resident of Belthangady to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl. He was also found guilty of showing her as his wife in a hospital to undergo abortion of the baby.
Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Sessions Court-2, K.S. Maanu sentenced 27-year-old K. Sudhir to rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹40,000 for the offence punishable under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He was also sentenced to three years and imposed fine of ₹10,000 for offence of destroying evidence that is punishable under Section 201 of IPC.
Sudhir was charged of raping the girl several times when the girl came to his house to watch television. He had also taken the victim to his grandmother’s house and raped her several times. When the girl became pregnant in August 2022, he raped her once again. He then took the help of his mother and other family members to take her to the hospital in Chikkamagaluru where they showed doctors that the two were husband and wife. Abortion was carried out in the hospital on December 17, 2022.
Following a complaint, the Belthangady Circle inspectors B. Shivakumar and K. Satyanarayana investigated the case and filed chargesheet against Sudhir, his mother Parvati, and six others, including the doctor who did abortion.
The judge convicted Sudhir and the remaining seven accused persons were acquitted. Of the total fine amount, ₹50,000 should be paid as compensation to the victim. The judge asked the District Legal Services Authority to pay additional compensation of ₹2 lakh to the victim. Badarinath Nairy represented the prosecution before the court.
Published – November 22, 2024 07:33 pm IST