Kerala Man Given 133 Years In Prison For Raping Minor Daughters

Sexual crime against women hit a new low in Kerala where a 42-year-old man sexually harassed his minor daughters for years. The man used to sexually harass the elder daughter who is 13-year-old repeatedly from November 2021 to March 2022. He then started harassing his younger daughter too who is 11 years old. However, he has been arrested and the POCSO Fast Track Court has sentenced him to 133 years of rigorous imprisonment. 

As per the reports, the incident came to light in 2022 when the younger daughter told her mother about her father's sexual advances. The mother, an Aanganwadi teacher, confronted her elder daughter who too revealed about her repeated rape by her father. She also said that the father had threatened her that if she told anyone about him, he would sexually abuse her sister as well.

The mother then sought help from a local woman panchayat member who brought Childline into the picture. The Childline recorded the girls' statements and the Edavanna police station filed a report and arrested the man. Since then the man has been in judicial custody going through custodial trial. He tried to get bail several times. However, he wasn't granted bail considering the safety of the wife and survivor daughters. Special public prosecutor A Somasundaran said, "The accused had been in judicial custody for the past one-and-a-half years. He had tried to secure bail several times, but we submitted that it would pose a risk to his wife and girls. His father as well as his wife and survivors also opposed granting bail to him."

Court's judgement for the two rape cases

Finally, on Tuesday, the Manjeri special fast-track Pocso court in Malappuram, led by Fast Track Special Judge Ashraf A M, sentenced the man to 133 years of rigorous imprisonment for two separate rape cases. 

 For raping his elder daughter, he has been imprisoned for 123 years and has been slapped with a fine of 7 lakhs. He was found guilty under Section 376(3) (rape of a girl below 16 years of age) of the IPC and sections 5(l) (repeated penetrative sexual assault) and 5(m) (penetrative sexual assault of a child below 12 years) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and three years for the offence under section 75 (cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice Act. The fast-track court has sentenced him to 40 years of jail for each charge. 

And, for assaulting the younger sister, the court has sentenced him to ten years of jail and fined 1.85 lakh rupees. 

However, the accused will serve the sentences concurrently. This means that he will initially be in jail for 40 years as that is the maximum number of years a man can be in jail.