Man gets 20 years RI for forcible sex on teen girl in Karnataka
Bengaluru, Jun 28: A special fast-track court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) cases here has sentenced a man to undergo 20 years rigorous imprisonment for forcibly having a physical relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
He was accused of promising to marry the girl and then forcibly having sex with her.
The IIIrd additional fast-track court judge Ishrath Jehan, who pronounced the sentence recently, also found the man guilty of rape for which he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000.
He was also sentenced to seven years imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine for charges of kidnap.
All the sentences will run concurrently.
The court also directed the Karnataka Legal Services Authority to provide the victim a compensation of Rs 4 lakh. A sum of Rs 10,000 from the fine imposed on the convict will also be paid to the victim.
The convict, Preetam Babu aka Chitti Babu, hid his marital status from the girl from a neighboring locality and forced her into a physical relationship with the promise of marrying her.
He would often force her to go around with him. On December 23, 2017 he took her to a friend's place and committed the offence.
In a similar judgment in Udupi, the fast-track special POCSO court has sentenced a 55-year-old man to 20 years imprisonment for raping a girl at a farmhouse where she was staying in 2021.
The sentence was pronounced on Monday by POCSO fast-track court judge Justice Srinivas Suvarna against the convict, Hanumantha, a resident of Haveri.
Hanumantha was employed in the farmhouse where the victim was staying with her mother. The man had raped the girl in January 2021 when the girl was alone in the house.
The girl informed her mother about the incident and a complaint was filed by the girl's mother at the Kundapur police station.
The court sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment of 20 years and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000, failing which he will have to spend one more year in prison.
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SC asks states to treat rising child trafficking cases as grave; seeks coordinated action
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has voiced grave concern over rising cases of child trafficking, saying gangs are operating across the country and if States and Union territories do not take immediate action, thing will go beyond control.
The court said only the state government and its home department can act vigilantly in this regard.
“As a court we can monitor, but ultimately the action has to be on the part of the state government, the police, and other agencies. Therefore, this is our humble request”, a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan said during the hearing of a plea on Wednesday.
The bench was irked over the "lackadaisical" approach of several states and UTs in implementing a 2025 judgment aimed at dismantling organised trafficking networks.
Justice Viswanathan said the retrieval of children in some cases proves the problem can be tackled, but it requires a level of political and administrative will which is lacking at present.
The verdict, delivered on April 15, 2025, had mandated several institutional reforms, including completion of trials in trafficking cases within six months on a day-to-day basis.
It had also directed strengthening of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) and improving investigation standards.
Besides asking for setting up of state-level committees to monitor vulnerable trafficking hotspots, it had asked the authorities to treat missing children cases as trafficking unless proven otherwise.
Earlier, the bench had termed the compliance reports filed by a few states as "nothing but an eye wash."
On Wednesday, the bench noted that Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha, and Punjab had still failed to file reports in the prescribed format.
When the home secretary of Madhya Pradesh offered an apology for the lapse, the bench granted a "final opportunity" but warned that continued failure would lead to states being officially branded as "defaulting".
The bench noted that at least 15 states are yet to constitute review committees mandated to identify and monitor trafficking-prone areas.
The matter will now be heard on April 29.
