Toronto: An Indian-origin police officer's conviction and sentence to a 15-month jail term for sexually assaulting a masseuse in 2013 has been upheld by a Canadian court in Toronto.
Mandip Sandhu was taken in custody yesterday after Justice Brian O'Marra dismissed several grounds of appeal raised by his lawyers.
The judge upheld both the conviction and sentence handed down to Mr Sandhu by a lower court. "The appellant was convicted of a crime involving sexual violence and an egregious abuse of public trust and authority. The length and manner of serving this custodial sentence do not reflect an error in principle, nor is the sentence demonstrably unfit," said O'Marra.
Mr Sandhu, who had been an officer for 11 years prior to his arrest in 2010, was sentenced in June 2013 after a three-day trial that ended in conviction, Toronto Star reported.
On June 3, 2010, he went alone to a massage parlour and, with his gun clearly visible, sexually molested a masseuse.
She had testified the he told her not to call the police.
Last year, the complainant filed a lawsuit against Mr Sandhu and the Toronto Police Services Board for $1.3 million.