Dehradun (Uttarakhand): A district Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Court delivered its verdict on the 2018 gangrape case of a minor girl student of GRD academy in Uttarakhand's Dehradun on Monday and sentenced the prime accused and others involved in the crime with 20 and nine years of imprisonment respectively.
The verdict was delivered by POCSO court special judge Rama Pandey.
Sarabjit, a student of the same school, has been awarded with 20 years in prison under section 370 D of the POCSO Act along with a fine of Rs. 5,000.
Other three juveniles involved in the crime have been sentenced to three years in prison.
While holding the school management accountable for concealing evidence, and forcing the victim to undergo an abortion, the Court also sentenced school manager Deepak Malhotra, his wife Tanu Malhotra, and director Lata Gupta with nine years of imprisonment under section 313 of the IPC, apart from imposing a fine to the tune of Rs. 40, 000 on each of them.
"The school administration has been asked by the Court to pay Rs. 10 lakh as compensation to the victim, failing which strict action would be taken against them," said GB Ratudi, public prosecutor.
Meanwhile, school Principal Jitendra Kumar has been relieved of all accusations under section 313 of the Indian Penal Code.
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In 2018, a class 10 girl student was gang-raped by four other students which was followed by several attempts made by the school management to keep the heinous crime under wraps. The victim was administered home remedies believed to induce miscarriage to terminate her pregnancy caused by the rape.
