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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Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.

The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.

On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."

His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.

In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”

Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”

Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.

After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.

“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.

“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”

Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.

Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay. 

Chaotic end to a poor season

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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.

It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.

Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.

Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.