Kasaragod: A Fast Track Special Court in Kanhangad on Thursday sentenced a jewellery shop salesman to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Scheduled Tribe girl two years ago.

Special sessions judge Suresh P M found Adarsh B guilty on two counts of sexual assault, and also under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (PoA Act). "Adarsh belongs to a forward caste, and at the time of the crime, he was 28 years old," said Special Public Prosecutor Gangadharan A.

The accused lured the girl with chocolates and subjected her to serious penetrative sexual assault on July 4, 2023, at 9 pm in a shed near the survivor’s house, the prosecutor said. Before the assault, Adarsh was continuously stalking the minor through mobile phone calls, expressing his affection and enticing her, said Adv Gangadharan. They belong to the same Bedadka grama panchayat.

This is the fifth conviction in the 14 sexual assault cases filed in connection with the girl. Trials in seven cases, which are to be heard in the special court in Kasaragod, are yet to begin. Of the seven cases listed before the Kanhangad Special Fast Track Court, two accused -- one from the girl's community and another from a forward community -- died by suicide. The remaining five cases that went to trial in Hosdurg have all ended in conviction.

After the first case came to light, the girl was moved to a government institution, where she revealed that 13 others had assaulted her, said the special public prosecutor.

The cases were registered at the Bekal Police Station and investigated by DySP Satishkumar Alakkal of Special Mobile Squad, a special unit to prevent atrocities against members of SC/ST communities.

In Thursday's case, the judge found Adarsh guilty of penetrative sexual assault under Section 3 (b) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment under Section 4 (2) of the same Act. He was also fined ₹5,000. If the fine is not paid, he will have to serve an additional three months in prison.

The court also found him guilty of inappropriately touching a tribal girl without her consent and sentenced him to six months of simple imprisonment and a fine of ₹1,000 under Section 3(1)w(i) of the PoA Act. If the fine is not paid, he will have to serve an additional week in prison.

The Special Public Prosecutor said Adarsh was sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 3(2)(v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which mandates life imprisonment if a non-SC/ST person commits an offence punishable with 10 years or more, against a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.