Kasaragod: A fast track court on Tuesday sentenced a civil contractor from West Bengal to 61 years in prison for repeatedly raping a 13-year-old girl whose father's house he was building in Kasaragod district.

Inzamam ul-Haq alias Rajeev (28) of Charmahatpur village in Nadia district of West Bengal was found guilty and sentenced to 61 years on five different counts of aggravated sexual assaults and criminal intimidation, said special public prosecutor A Gangadharan.

Hosdurg Fast-Track Special Court Judge C Suresh Kumar also slapped a fine of Rs 2.10 lakh on Inzamam ul-Haq. "If he does not pay the fine, he will have to serve another 11 months in prison," said the prosecutor.

How the crime was unearthed
Sometime in 2019, Payyannur Police arrested a Malayali for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl in Kannur district. When the officers went through his smartphone, they found a nude photograph of a minor girl.

Their investigation found that the girl, a class X student, lived in the Chittarikkal police limits in Kasaragod district, said prosecutor Gangadharan. The police did not approach the girl. Instead, they asked Childline to send its counsellors to the girl. "She opened up during the counselling," he said.

Two years before in 2017, when the girl was only 14 years old and in Class VIII, her father, a commercial vehicle driver, gave the contract to build his house to Inzamam ul-Haq.

The girl's family shifted to a shed during the construction work, but the workers stayed in the structure under construction. As the house started taking shape, the girl's family too moved in from the shed. "During this time, Inzamam ul-Haq repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the abuse.

She suffered the ordeal and kept mum for two years, till the ChildLine counsellors knocked on her door. By then, Inzamam ul-Haq had started thriving, bought two tipper trucks and a residential plot in the area, said Adv Gangadharan. "The girl's father had helped him with documents too to make the purchases," he said.

Based on the girl's statement, Chittarikkal police registered a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and arrested Inzamam ul-Haq.

Chittarikkal Station House Officer - Inspector Ranjith Raveendran submitted the charge sheet to the Hosdurg Fast Track Special Court.

On Tuesday, September 12, the Fast Track court found Inzamam guilty of all the sections he was charged with.

The court sentenced Inzamam to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 376 (3) of IPC for raping a girl under 16 years; another 25 years under Section 6 (1) of POCSO Act for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child (Section 5 (l) of POCSO); six years for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child (section 10 read with section 9 (l) of POCSO); three years of rigorous imprisonment for making explicit sexual overtures and committing physical contact (Section 354 (A) (1) (i) of IPC); and two years for criminal intimidation (Section 506 (1) of IPC).

The sentences would run concurrently and so he would have to serve only 25 years of rigorous imprisonment, said the prosecutor Gangadharan.