Mangaluru
The additional District and Sessions Court FTSC-I (POCSO) has sentenced a man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a six-year-old girl. Judge Manjula Itty held Benakaraj Lamani alias Raj (25), a resident of Nelogal village in Haveri district, guilty of offences under sections of the IPC and the Pocso Act.
Lamani, a Home Nurse, was serving at the survivor’s house to look after her grandfather. He had sexually assaulted the minor girl and injured her by biting her in January 2022, when her mother had gone out to buy medicines. A case in this regard was registered at the women’s police station in Mangaluru.
Inspector SH Bajanthri had taken up the investigation and filed a chargesheet before the court.
In the judgment pronounced, the Judge has awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs 25,000 under IPC Section 376 (Punishment for Rape) and the POCSO Act on Lamani. In addition, the convict has also been awarded six months of simple imprisonment and Rs 1,000 penalty under Section 323 (Punishment for Voluntarily Causing Hurt) of the IPC. The Court also directed the District Legal Services Authority to hand over Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the survivor.
