Thiruvananthapuram, March 4 A Kerala court has sentenced a man to a cumulative 18 years in prison for repeatedly sexually assaulting a minor girl while tutoring her 11 years ago.
The incident came to light in 2024 when the victim was a medical student and recognized someone resembling the accused.
Thiruvananthapuram Fast Track Special Court judge Anju Meera Birla sentenced the 57-year-old man to various prison terms under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, totaling 18 years, special public prosecutor (SPP) R S Vijay Mohan said.
However, as the sentences must be served concurrently and the longest punishment is five years, the convict will only serve 5 years in prison, the prosecutor said.
The court also imposed a fine of 35,000 on the accused and directed the District Legal Services Authority to pay compensation to the child "in light of the mental anguish she suffered," the SPP said.
The prosecutor said that when the girl was in class 5 in 2013, she received tutoring from the accused, who then sexually assaulted her.
The sexual assaults occurred multiple times until January 2014, and the girl stopped going to him when she was in class 6, the SPP said.
However, the victim never revealed what happened due to the threats from the tutor, and as a result, she suffered from mental distress, the SPP said.
This also resulted in a loss of a year of studies when she was in Plus 2, the prosecutor said.
Even after completing Plus 2, she continued to experience excessive fear, isolation, and panic disorder, due to her past experience, and her family showed her to a psychologist, the SPP said.
During this time, in 2024, she saw a person who resembled her tutor and became mentally disturbed.
She consulted a doctor, and that is when the past incident came to light, the prosecutor said.
The doctor informed the police, and the accused was arrested, the SPP said.
