Udupi: Man sentenced to 37 years for abduction and sexual assault of minor girl
Udupi: The Udupi Additional District POCSO Special Court has sentenced Sachin Pujari (26), a resident of Kota, to 37 years of rigorous imprisonment for the abduction and sexual assault of a minor girl in 2022. Pujari, a relative of the victim, exploited his relationship to gain her trust, eventually kidnapping and sexually assaulting her multiple times.
The court found Pujari guilty based on evidence, including witness testimonies and the recovery of gold ornaments he had stolen from the victim's family. He was convicted under various charges, including abduction, rape, extortion, and threats.
The court has sentenced the accused to various terms of imprisonment and fines for multiple offenses. The sentences include five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 5,000 for abducting the girl, ten years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 10,000 for rape, one year of imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 3,000 for extortion of money and gold jewelry, and one year of imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 2,000 for making threats. Additionally, the accused received twenty years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 20,000 for the rape of a minor girl.
The total fine imposed amounts to Rs. 40,000, with Rs. 30,000 to be paid to the victim and Rs 10,000 to the government. The court has also ordered that Rs. 2 lakh be given to the victim as compensation, with an additional Rs. 2 lakh to be provided to the victim by the government. All sentences are to be served concurrently.
Special public prosecutor YT Raghavendra represented the government in this case.
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Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
