TIRUCHY: In the second-harshest punishment for child sex abuse handed out in the State, a 47-year-old man was on Friday sentenced to three consecutive life sentences (42 years) for raping his 12-year-old daughter. Public prosecutor G Krishnaveni Thamaraiselvan said the convict, brought his daughter home and sexually abused her on March 5, 2017. It was his neighbours who, on hearing the child’s cries, alerted Childline officials. They rescued the minor girl with the help of cops from the Fort all-women police station, who arrested the man, he added.
Tiruchy Mahila Court judge Jacintha Martin, who sent the man to Tiruchy Central Jail for 42 years, also slapped him with a fine of Rs 3,000, failing to pay which would lead to imprisonment of three more years.
The Tiruchy court had on June 12, 2017 sentenced a 51-year-old man to 46 years for raping his daughter. And a Madurai court had sentenced an offender to 50 years in prison, the longest-ever jail term given in a POCSO case in the State.