20-Yr Jail for Teenager for Raping 7-Yr-Old Girl in AP

Visakhapatnam: A youngster of 17 years was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment by a special sessions judge raping a seven-year-old girl in Andhra Pradesh’s Anakapalli district. He was convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the convict.

The court directed the government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the survivor within 30 days of receipt of the order.

The incident took place on May 8 and May 9 in 2022. The victim was the daughter of daily wage earning labourer parents. She was in Class 2, when the incident happened. The accused was a neighbour of the victim.

On May 8, he raped the girl in his house. On the next day he again raped the girl in a cashew nut plantation near the village.

The survivor’s mother lodged a complaint against the accused on May 11, 2022. Since the accused was a juvenile, the police had produced him at the juvenile court. However, after seeing his physical appearance and mental ability, the case was transferred to a POCSO court by considering him as an adult.

The POCSO court convicted the boy in the case on Monday and ordered that he serve in the juvenile home till he turns 18 years old, after which he should be shifted to the civil jail.