Govt clerk sentenced to 111-year RI for sexual abuse of student in TVM tuition centre
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The fast track special court (POCSO), Thiruvananthapuram, sentenced a tuition teacher to 111 years of rigorous imprisonment for the sexual abuse of a plus-one student. Judge R Rekha also slapped a fine of Rs 1.05 lakhs as fine. The accused Manoj, a resident of Ambalathara was sentenced to different periods of rigorous imprisonment varying from three months to 30 years after being convicted under various sections of POCSO and IPC. The sentences shall run concurrently. The incident happened in 2019. Manoj who was employed as a government servant also ran a tuition centre in Thiruvananthapuram.
The survivor was a student at the tuition centre. According to the case, he sexually assaulted her and took sexually explicit photos of the survivor and stored in his mobile phone. Manoj's wife came across this photo and committed suicide a day later. Following the death of Manoj's wife, the photos were circulated and father of the survivor happened to receive the photo. She told her family about the abuse and a case was registered at the Fort police station. She had told her parents that she couldn't reveal the incident earlier due to fear and shame.
The accused had raised the plea of alibi saying that he was present in the government office on the day he was accused of having sexually abused the girl. However, the statements by defence witnesses in favour of the accused fell flat as it was found that the witness was not present in the office during the period when the incident happened. It was also proven that the attendance register was not properly maintained in the office.
The court observed that the accused committed aggravated sexual assault on the girl more than once in the institution, unmindful of his position as the trustee and protector of the girl. The wife of the accused had to shed her life. The accused who dared to commit such heinous act is to be dealt with the heavy hands of law. Maximum punishments provided under the statutes are to be imposed on the accused to deter the potential offenders from committing similar offences and to give a strong message to the society, the order noted. Special public prosecutor R S Vijayamohan appeared for the prosecution.