CHENNAI: A special court in the city awarded life imprisonment to an offender for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old schoolgirl repeatedly, and ordered the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh in damages to the survivor.

The special court constituted for hearing cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, found the accused guilty of sexually assaulting the schoolgirl on various occasions and ordered a life sentence with Rs 30,000 as a fine.

The court also directed the Tamil Nadu government to pay Rs 10 lakh to the survivor as compensation.

On December 2023, police booked a case against the accused under the Pocso Act, based on a petition lodged by the girl's mother.

According to the complaint, the accused, who lives in the neighbourhood, picked the girl from the school and committed the offence. He also threatened the girl against revealing to her parents about the harassment.

The accused continued his harassment on several occasions. As the victim could not tolerate the harassment, she revealed the ordeal to her mother leading to a police case and imprisonment of the accused.