CHENNAI: A 26-year-old man was on Tuesday convicted of abducting and sexually assaulting a minor girl in 2019, and sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Tiruvallur District Pocso Special Court. The court fined him Rs 20,000 and directed him to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the victim’s family.
The convict, Ramakrishnan, a resident of Kodungaiyur in Chennai, worked at a steel company. He abducted the girl, then aged 15, and confined her for six days after pressuring her to marry him.
The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison and fined him `10,000 under IPC Section 366. He was also awarded 10 years in prison and a fine of `10,000 under Section 5(l) read with section 6 of the Pocso Act. The sentences will run consecutively.
The case dates back to January 2, 2019, when the girl went missing after leaving her home to buy a pen. After her parents lodged a complaint, Ennore AWPS examined CCTV footage and found that the girl had allegedly been abducted in an autorickshaw. On January 9, the police traced her to Tirupati. During questioning, the girl told police that Ramakrishnan had taken her to a bus stand and later to Lower Tirupati, where he sexually assaulted her. Special public prosecutor N Bhuvaneshwari appeared for the prosecution.