Islamic Scholar Sentenced To 56 Years Of Imprisonment For Sexual Assault Of Minor

An elderly man was convicted and sentenced by a Kerala court to a cumulative of 56 years imprisonment for repeated aggravated sexual assault of a minor boy who went to the convict for Islamic classes.

Thiruvananthapuram Fast Track Special Court (POCSO) judge R Rekha sentenced the man to varying jail terms for several offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the IPC for a total of 56 years.

However, as the sentences have to be served concurrently and the highest of the jail terms given to the man was 20 years, he will be serving 20 years in prison, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) R S Vijay Mohan said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 75,000 on the convict.

According to the prosecution, between October 2020 and January 2021, the then 11-year-old boy was sexually assaulted on several occasions when he went to the convict, an Islamic scholar, for religious classes.

The convict had also threatened to kill the boy by drowning him in a pond if he were to disclose the sexual assault to anyone, the SPP said.

Besides that, the convict had also shown nude pictures of ladies from his mobile and other pornographic media to the boy, the prosecution said. 

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