Employer receives double life sentence for raping mentally ill farm worker’s daughter in Kannur

Kannur: A fast-track special court for POCSO cases at Taliparamba, Kannur, on Saturday, July 20, sentenced an elderly man to double life imprisonment for sexually abusing a mentally ill girl for four years, from the time the girl was nine to 12 years old.

Special Judge Rajesh R on Saturday, July 20, found Aloysius alias Jose (64) of Pulikurumba in Naduvil Grama Panchayat guilty of nine counts of sexual assault and criminal intimidation. The survivor’s parents worked as rubber tappers and agricultural labourers with Jose, said child sex crimes prosecutor Adv Sherymol Jose. “Reading out the verdict, the judge observed that the man in his 60s, who should have protected the girl, deserves no mercy,” she said.

Adv Sherymol Jose said the girl had physical and mild mental disabilities and was also a heart patient. The crime came to light in November 2020 when the girl’s cousins ​​overheard her narrating her ordeal to her paternal grandmother on the phone. Her parents told their school teachers, who informed Childline. “Although the medical examination revealed the sexual assault, it did not reveal the extent of Jose’s abuse until counselors in Taliparamba worked with her for two days,” said Adv Sherymol Jose.

According to her, the Kudiyanmala police filed a complaint against him and arrested him, but he was not arrested until about a month later. “Jose was an influential and respected person. He had not even gone into hiding. But the police arrested him on the eve of his daughter’s wedding after the media reported on the case,” she said.

According to the indictment, Jose first abused the girl in his home in 2017 while her mother was working on his farm. She was nine years old and in fourth grade at the time. He then sexually abused her when she accompanied her mother to his home, according to the indictment.

Since sixth grade, he would come to her home and sexually abuse her when her parents went rubber tapping. The last incident was reported on November 11, 2020, when she was in seventh grade.

The special court awarded him two life sentences for aggravated sexual assault on a girl below 12 years of age under sections 3(a), 4, 5(m) and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Assault (POCSO) Act, said Adv Sherymol Jose. “Life sentence here means imprisonment for the rest of the natural life,” she said.

Jose was also found guilty under Section 462 of the Penal Code (punishment for the same offence if committed by a person having custody of the child), Section 354 A and B of the Penal Code (sexual harassment and use of criminal force to disrobe), Section 506 of the Penal Code (criminal intimidation) and Section 5(l) of the POCSO Act (repeated sexual assault).

On the remaining seven counts, Judge Rajesh sentenced him to a total of 60 years imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 375,000.