Thiruvananthapuram: A 58-year-old man who sexually abused a nine-year-old girl was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Thiruvananthapuram POCSO court Judge MP Shibu also fined him Rs 50,000.
The incident happened in 2017. He was the cleaner of the school bus. The man, standing on the footboard, assaulted her when the girl was getting down from the bus. The child told her parents about her ordeal and then to the school authorities. However, the principal did not take action because the accused was his relative.
The parents shifted her to another school when the girls objected to going to the previous school.
While the school counsellor in the new school spoke about bad touch and good touch, the child revealed the incident on the bus in her previous school. The authorities of the new school reported it to the police.
But the principal misled the police claiming that the bus in which the incident took place was made and put into service after the incident.
With this, the prosecution asked for further investigation in the case. On subsequent probes, school authorities learned that the bus was sold to a scrap dealer and the bus was demolished.
Realising that the principal had deliberately sabotaged the case, the police submitted a new charge sheet to the court including this information. The principal, who turned approver, had given a statement in favour of the accused.