CHENNAI: A 75-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail a year after he was booked for raping a four-and-half-year-old girl in the city.
The prosecution case was that the accused A Jayalabudeen had lured the child into his house on May 22, 2018, and was caught red-handed by neighbours when he was sexually assaulting the child. According to the special public prosecutor L Srilekha, Jayalabudeen was the owner of the building in which he had rented out portions to many families.
The children residing in the building used to play and Jayalabudeen used to take care of them. On the date of the incident, the child is said to have gone to the common toilet in the building after which she went missing.
When the father and neighbour went in search of the child, they allegedly spotted Jayalabudeen sexually assaulting the child. The child suffered bleeding injuries.
Based on a complaint from the father, inspector Dhanalakshmi of Annanagar All Women Police Station booked Jayalabudeen and filed a charge-sheet.
In her order on Tuesday, Mahila court judge RN Manjula said the prosecution had proved the charges beyond doubt. She sentenced Jayalabudeen to 10 years in prison and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him.