A Mahila court sentenced a man to life in prison for raping a 14-year-old school girl in 2006.
Bir Muhammad (34), belonging to Sugunapuram at Kuniyamuthur, was a cable TV operator. He is married and has four children.
In 2006, he befriended a man in the area and was introduced to his 14-year-old daughter. The two were said to have had a cordial relationship. However, a few months after being acquainted with the girl, Mohammed is said to have told the girl, while she was coming back from school, that her parents had asked him to pick her up and took her to his home.
Once the girl found that her parents were not at Muhammad’s home, she is believed to have tried to escape. But Muhammad brandished a knife and threatened to kill her as well as her parents if she spurned his advances.
He is then said to have raped her at his house and told her to not reveal the incident to anyone, failing which he would kill her.
However, in 2007, noticing changes in her physique, her parents took her to a hospital for a medical check, where doctors confirmed that she was six months pregnant.
The girl’s parents then came to know of the incident and lodged a complaint with the Kuniyamuthur all-Women Police Station.
Muhammad was charged with rape, kidnap, forceful confinement and intimidation. On Tuesday, the judge sentenced Muhammad to life in prison for rape and imposed a fine of `1 lakh. Muhammad also got 10 years in prison for kidnap plus a fine of `25,000. In addition he was also handed a term of another six months for forceful confinement and fined `1,000. Finally, he was sent to one year in prison for criminal intimidation and slapped with a `10,000 fine. All four sentences are to run concurrently.