Man who raped underage girl was sentenced to 20 years in prison

A Mangaluru court on Thursday sentenced a 27-year-old Belthangady resident to 20 years rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl. He was also found guilty of posing as his wife in order to obtain an abortion at the hospital.

Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Sessions Court-2, KS Maanu, sentenced K. Sudhir, 27, to rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹40,000 for the offense punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of Protection for Sexual Offenses Children Act. He was also sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined ₹10,000 for the offense of destroying evidence punishable under Section 201 of the IPC.

Sudhir was accused of raping the girl several times when she came to his house to watch television. He had also taken the victim to her grandmother’s house and raped her several times. In August 2022, when the girl became pregnant, he raped her once again. Later, with the help of his mother and other family members, they took him to the hospital in Chikkamagaluru, where they showed the doctors that the two were husband and wife. An abortion was performed at the hospital on December 17, 2022.

Following a complaint, Belthangady Circle inspectors B. Shivakumar and K. Satyanarayana investigated the incident and filed a complaint against Sudhir, his mother Parvati and six people, including the doctor who performed the abortion.

The judge convicted Sudhir and the remaining seven defendants were acquitted. Of the total fine, ₹50,000 must be paid as compensation to the victim. The judge asked the District Legal Services Authority to pay additional compensation of ₹2 lakh to the victim. Badarinath Nairy represented the prosecution before the court.