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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
