A local court has convicted an accused and awarded him three years of rigorous imprisonment for molesting a minor girl.

The district Special Judge (under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Shimla convicted the accused Krishan Bahadur resident of Tiuni Matal, Dehradoon district, Uttarakhand for the offence under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 452 IPC (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and Section 8 of POCSO Act, 2012.

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Holding the man guilty, accordingly the accused has been convicted to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 6 months and to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 for commission of the offence punishable under Section 342 Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentence of one year rigorous imprisonment for the commission of offence under Section 354 IPC and a fine of Rs 3,000 and sentence of two years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3,000 for the commission of offence under Section 452.

The convict has also been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment of three years and a fine of Rs 5,000 for commission of the offence punishable under Section 8 of the POCSO Act.

All the sentences are to run concurrently. However, the period of detention of the convict during the investigation, trial shall be set off as provided under Section 428 CrPC.

The amount of fine, on its realisation, will be given to the child victim as compensation. The child victim is also entitled for a sum of Rs 50,000 as compensation which will be given to the child victim out of the state government’s victim compensation fund.

On 20 November, 2016, the child victim along with her younger sister were alone at their house in a village in Shimla district and her cousin had come to give them company.

After dinner, they had gone to a room to sleep at about 9:00 p.m. When the child victim went to another room for bringing quilt as she was feeling cold, the accused also entered the said room and bolted the same from inside and got hold of the child victim and started molesting her.

The child victim raised an alarm and hearing the noise the uncle and the aunt of the child victim also came to the spot. However, the accused opened the latch of the room and ran away.