Minor sexually harassed; Man gets 4-year jail term

Mangaluru: A person found guilty of sexually harassing a minor girl has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment and fine Rs. 25,000 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), by the second additional and sessions court and the special court of the city.

The guilty has been identified as Yatish Karkera (22), a resident of Marthottu House of Nadugodu village in Kateel near here.

Incident

On December 13, 2013, Yatish had enticed a 14-year-old girl from Thokkottu on the pretext of providing her with new clothes and mobile phone and had asked her to come to Surathkal. He had then taken her to Tannirubhavi beach for a ride and after spending time on the beach he made her believe that they are going to one of his relative’s house. However, instead he took the minor girl to his house in Kateel and sexually exploited her. He also threatened to kill her if she disclosed the matter to anyone.

Based on the complaint filed with the Ullal police, Sub-inspectors Dharmendra and Satish M P had investigated the case and submitted a charge sheet to the court.

second additional district and sessions court and the special court Justice B R Pallavi conducted the inquiry and pronounced the accused as guilty and sentenced him to four years of imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 under the POCSO act, three months imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine under IPC section 366 (kidnap), one year imprisonment under IPC section 506 (threatening) and six months imprisonment under IPC 342 (illegal arrest) on Friday, August 31^st.

The guilty was ordered by the court to pay Rs 15,000 out of the total fine amount of Rs 25,000 to the victim minor. Additionally, the court has also directed that the victim is eligible to obtain more compensation from the government.

Special public prosecutor C Venkataramana Swamy had argued the case on behalf of the prosecution.