Man gets 20 years in jail for abducting, sexually assaulting minor girl

CHENNAI: A special court for Pocso Act cases in Tiruvallur sentenced a man to 20 years in prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor girl in 2019. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the accused and also directed that Rs 2 lakh be paid to the survivor’s family as compensation.

The accused, Ramakrishnan, a resident of Kodungaiyur in Chennai, was the victim's neighbour and worked at a steel company. He allegedly abducted the girl, then aged 15, in January 2019 and confined her for six days after pressuring her to marry him.

Her parents lodged a complaint with the Ennore All Women Police Station after she failed to return. When they examined the CCTV footage, the police found that the girl had been abducted in an autorickshaw. After a six days of search, police traced her to Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and rescued the girl. Ramakrishnan was arrested.

The case was tried before the Tiruvallur District Pocso Special Court, where Special Public Prosecutor N Bhuvaneshwari appeared for the prosecution.

After hearing submissions from both sides, the court sentenced the accused to 20 years of imprisonment.