Mangaluru: The mother of a minor rape victim is among three sentenced to imprisonment by an additional district and sessions court in Karnataka's Mangaluru. The court has sentenced the prime accused, a 49-year-old man to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment under the POCSO Act for sexually assaulting a minor girl for one year in 2016, officials said.
Judge KM Radhakrishna also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convicted person, Dervi D'Souza, a painter from Kotekar on the outskirts of the city. The survivor's mother, who assisted him in the crime, was also sentenced to 14 years in jail and a fine of Rs 25,000 for the offence punishable under Section 17 (abetment of sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.
Another accused Melvin D'Souza, who sheltered the woman and the girl, was sentenced to six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 30,000 for failure to report the case. The prime accused, Dervi D'Souza, was also sentenced to seven years and fined Rs 25,000 under IPC section 366 (abduction) and two years for the offence punishable under IPC section 343 (wrongful confinement).
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The sentences will run concurrently, the judge said. According to the charge sheet, the survivor, who was aged 15, was staying with her mother in a house after the death of her father. Dervi D'Souza frequently visited the house and financially helped the victim's mother. During one of his visits in 2016, he sexually assaulted the girl.
When the victim told her mother about it, the latter backed D'Souza, who was allowed to continue the assault. When neighbours started expressing doubts, Dervi D'Souza took the girl and her mother to Melvin's house in May 2016 where he continued the sexual assault. On December 17, based on definite information, the district child protection unit raided the house and rescued the girl.
Based on her statement, the Ullal police registered a case against the three accused and a charge sheet was filed after a detailed investigation. Special public prosecutor Venkataramanaswamy examined a total of 20 witnesses during the trial. The judge, in his order, also directed the chairman of the District Legal Services authority to pay Rs 1 lakh to the survivor as compensation. (PTI)
