A fast-track court in Mizoram’s Kolasib district on Thursday sentenced a 67-year-old man to 10 years of imprisonment for molesting a minor girl six years ago, officials said. The order was pronounced judge R. Vanlalena, sentencing Vanlalruata to 10 years of jail term for sexually abusing the 8-year-old girl. A fine of Rs 7,000 was also imposed on the man.
Notably, the court had earlier convicted the man under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment with a Rs 5,000 fine in November 2021. According to reports, the father of the girl had filed an FIR in a police station on January 16, 2019, a day after the girl informed him about the incident that took place in mid-2018
A criminal case under POCSO Act, 2012, was registered and the suspect was arrested. The police investigated the case and submitted the chargesheet. Moreover, a district court convicted him and sentenced him to undergo a prison term of 10 years and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on November 17, 2021.
The accused thereafter appealed to the Aizawl bench of Gauhati High Court which subsequently instructed the judge of the fast-track court to undertake the trial afresh and complete the trial within six months.
