Beltangady: A man was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment on charges of raping a minor by the sixth additional district sessions and disposal of sexual offences court, recently.
The culprit identified as 26-year-old Harish Gowda an auto rickshaw driver from Kundadka in Kenja village of Beltangady taluk who was held guilty by the court on October 17, for raping a 13-year-old girl in 2012.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Harish. The quantum of punishment was pronounced by Justice S H Pushpanjali Devi.
Harish was convicted on three charges of rape, abduction and threat to kill. He was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and Rs 10,000 fine under section 376 of IPC for raping the girl, seven years RI and Rs 10,000 fine under section 363 of IPC for abduction and one year RI and Rs 5,000 fine under section 506 of IPC for threatening her. All the sentences will run concurrently.
If Harish fails to pay the fines, he would have to undergo another three years of imprisonment for rape, two more years for abduction and 6 more months for threatening the girl. The fine would be paid to the victim.
The incident
It may be recalled that on September 13, 2012, the girl, a student of ninth standard, was returning from her mother’s house to her maternal uncle’s residence where she was staying for studies.
A person identified as Dinesh offered to give her a lift in the auto rickshaw he was travelling by, which was driven by Harish Gowda.
After Harish left Dinesh at his house, he assured to drop the girl at her maternal uncle’s place, but instead he took her to an isolated spot in the reserve forest area in Yennegadde village and raped her.
He then threatened to kill her if she revealed the incident to anyone and dropped her near her uncle’s house. However the girl narrated the incident to her mother a week later and a case was registered in Uppinangady police station.
The police were successful in arresting Harish and the hearing began on June 6, 2014. 18 witnesses deposed before the court, and Harish was convicted.
