Cuddalore bus conductor sentenced to 27 years in prison for raping minor girl

PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry Fast Track Special Court, which exclusively deals with offenses under the Pocso Act, on Monday sentenced a private bus conductor from Cuddalore district to 27 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old girl last year.

Justice V Sofana Devi sentenced the convict – E Babu (29) of Keezhpadhi in Pudhukadai, Cuddalore – to 20 years rigorous imprisonment under Section 6 (aggravated sexual assault) of the Pocso Act and seven additional years imprisonment under Section 366 (Kidnapping, Kidnapping or inducing a woman to force her marriage) of the Indian Penal Code. It also imposed a fine of Rs 4,000 on him and awarded compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the victim.

Special public prosecutor S. Patcheappan said Babu had befriended the victim when she was going to school. He persuaded her to have a relationship with him and took a few intimate photos with the victim. On the pretext of letting her meet his parents, Babu forced the victim to visit his house in Cuddalore. When she hesitated, he threatened to share the photos with her family members. The prosecutor said Babu sexually abused the girl several times and dumped her on the Ariyankuppam river bridge.

When the girl confronted him about her marriage, he refused and revealed that he was already married and had two children. Unable to handle the deception, the girl told her brother over the phone that she was cheated by the man and attempted suicide by jumping into the Ariyankuppam river. She was rescued with broken bones and in the hospital she told the truth to her parents, who filed a police report, the prosecutor added.

(For help for people with suicidal thoughts, call TN health helpline 104 and Sneha suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)