Elderly man gets 20-yr RI for raping minor girl

A Hyderabad court on Wednesday sentenced a sexagenarian to 20-years rigorous imprisonment for raping a four-and-half-year-old girl in October 2018.

First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Suneetha Kunchala found the 62-year-old man, a labourer, guilty under IPC section 376 AB (rape on woman under 12 years) and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000.

It is the first such sentencing in Telangana after the criminal law (amendment) ordinance, which introduced IPC Section 376 AB, came into force in April 2018, a Legal Support Officer at the court said.

Under the section, whoever, commits rape on a woman under twelve years of age shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than twenty years.

According to the prosecution, on October 25, 2018, the girl was playing near her house here when the man, who stays in the neighbourhood, lured her by promising to give a chocolate, took her inside his room and raped her.

The girl later narrated the incident to her mother who filed a complaint following which the man was arrested.