Ker court sentences man to 5-year jail term for sexual abuse of minor in school; fines school officials who suppressed it

A Kerala court on Thursday sentenced a 35-year old man to five years imprisonment for sexually abusing a minor girl inside a school, near Vadakkencherry here, where his daughter was a kindergarten student.

Pattambi Fast Track Special Court judge Satish Kumar also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on the Headmistress and Manager of the school for not reporting the crime despite being aware of it.

The special court punished the man for the offence of sexual abuse under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him, special public prosecutor (SPP) Nisha Vijayakumar said.

The court directed that the entire fine amount, if realised, be paid to the victim.

The prosecutor said that the convict was a relative of the school manager and that is why the incident was suppressed.

The SPP said that when the accused came to drop off his daughter in the school, he saw the victim alone in a classroom and took her to an isolated staircase where he hugged and kissed her.

The child informed her class teacher, who in turn told the Headmistress who conveyed the same to the school manager, but the latter two did not inform the police and suppressed the fact, the prosecutor said.

Later, the child’s parents informed Childline which in turn communicated the information to the police which registered a case, the SPP said.