The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on cab driver Santosh Kumar.
Four years after a harrowing case of child rape was reported in Bengaluru, a sessions court in the city convicted a cab driver for repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl for months.
The 71st CCH Court convicted Santosh Kumar (29) under section 376 (rape) of the IPC under Sections 3 (penetrative sexual assault) 4 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault), 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 7 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Santosh Kumar was given a 14-year life sentence and a fine of Rs 20,000 was imposed on him by the court.
In August 2014, 12-year-old Anu*, a resident of Bengaluru, experienced severe abdominal pain. Anu had lost her father when she was 6 years old and was living with her mother and younger brother in a small apartment in north-west Bengaluru.
When her mother, an employee at a garment factory, returned home, she was shocked to see her daughter in such pain. Anu was taken to the hospital immediately and the doctors declared that she was pregnant.
That’s when Anu told her mother about the abuse she had been facing at the hands of Santosh Kumar. According to the Peenya police, Santosh Kumar, a tourist taxi cab driver, was Anu’s neighbour.
Ever since her father died, Anu’s mother had taken up multiple jobs to make ends meet. “She couldn’t be at home a lot because of the work. Anu and her brother studied in a nearby government school. Her brother was poor at studies and Santosh used this bit of detail to abuse the girl,” the police said.
Santosh would walk into Anu’s home and scare her younger brother. “He would tell the boy to go into the room and study. He would lock the room door from outside and rape the girl,” the police added.
Santosh threatened to kill Anu’s brother and mother if she ever revealed the truth. After Anu became pregnant, her mother filed a complaint at the Peenya police station. The ACP of Yeshwanthpur began probing the case.
In 2015, Anu gave birth to a baby boy and the investigating officers sent Santosh’s blood samples for a DNA test, which came back positive. The baby, however, died four months later. A charge sheet was filed in December 2015 along with the DNA test results, the preliminary medical report and 15 witnesses.
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