Court awards 20-yr sentence in minor assault case

Mangaluru: The Fast Track Special Court (FTSC-2) in Mangaluru has convicted a man for sexually assaulting a minor girl and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

The onvict, Abubakkar, was arrested by the Bantwal Rural Police Station and charged under Sections 64(1) and 351(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita along with Section 4(2) of the POCSO Act. The investigation was conducted by Police Inspector Shivakumar B., who gathered the required evidence and submitted the charge sheet before the court.

After examining the evidence and hearing arguments, the court on March 7 held the accused guilty and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment besides imposing a fine of ₹50,000. Special Public Prosecutor Sahana Devi appeared for the prosecution.

Police officials Prashanth Kumar and Santosh D. Jadhav assisted the investigation and court proceedings, police said.