Kasaragod: A man earlier accused of child sexual abuse has been convicted of abducting a nine-year-old girl from her home at night, sexually assaulting her, and robbing her of her gold earrings. The verdict was delivered by the Hosdurg Fast Track Special Court in Kanhangad on Saturday.

Judge Suresh P M found P A Saleem (40), of Napoklu in Karnataka’s Kodagu district, guilty on eight counts of sexual assault under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. "We have sought the death penalty because he committed the crime while out on bail in a case of sexually assaulting his relative's 13-year-old daughter," said Special Public Prosecutor Adv Gangadharan A.

Saleem's sister, Suhaiba (21), a resident of Koothuparamba, was also found guilty under Section 414 of the IPC for helping sell the girl's jewellery at a shop near her house. "He got only ₹6,400 for the two pieces. She faces up to three years' imprisonment, a fine, or both," said the prosecutor. Suhaiba told the court she believed the jewellery belonged to Saleem's daughter.
The court will pronounce the sentence on August 28.

The incident happened on May 15, 2024, in Kanhangad town. The girl sleeping on her grandfather's bed was found missing around 3.30 am, sending the neighbourhood into a tizzy.  

Usually, the girl sleeps with her grandmother. But that day, she joined her friends for an excursion. So the girl slept with her grandfather.

Around 3 am, the grandfather got out of the house to milk his three cows. He closed the door but left it unlocked, as was the practice. When he returned around 3.30 am, he found the girl missing from the bed. The kitchen door was found ajar.

Unknown to them, the assaulter had abandoned the girl on a paddy field by the roadside, 1km away.  The terrified girl walked to the nearest house and knocked on the door. As they did not open, she went to the next house. The second family took the girl in and phoned her father around 4.50 am.

The girl's father said the assaulter choked the girl with his bare hands to silence her and poked her eyes with his fingers.

The sexual assault came to light only during the medical examination. It was a blind case.

The then Hosdurg Station House Officer - Inspector Azad Marutherippoyil, who led the investigation, started by screening anti-social elements and residents of the area because the assaulter knew the schedule of the grandfather.

A Special Investigation Team was formed and soon zeroed in on Saleem, a repeat child abuser. Though a native of Kodagu, he had settled in Kanhangad after his marriage and occasionally went fishing in the sea.

They found he used the money he got by selling the earrings to go to Maharashtra, Bengaluru and later to Andhra Pradesh, from where he was arrested on the ninth day.

On the 39th day after his arrest, the investigating officer, then Hosdurg Inspector Azad Marutherippoyil, filed the chargesheet before the Kasaragod District Sessions Court.

He was booked under multiple sections of the IPC and POCSO Act: Section 354 for assaulting with intent to outrage the girl’s modesty (punishable with one to five years), Section 366 for abducting with intent to sexually assault (up to 10 years), Section 363 for kidnapping (up to seven years), Section 370(4) for trafficking a minor (not less than 10 years), Section 449 for house-trespass to commit an offence punishable with death (imprisonment for life or up to 10 years, with fine), and Section 506 for criminal intimidation. Under POCSO, he was charged with Section 5(m) for aggravated penetrative sexual assault of a child below 12 years, which under Section 6(1) attracts death, life imprisonment, or a term not less than 20 years.

"We found Saleem's DNA on her clothes. But obtaining the girl's statement was difficult. She often broke down and required extensive counselling," said the prosecutor.

The prosecution listed 67 witnesses and presented more than 40 pieces of evidence, including blood samples, the clothes worn by the accused at the time, a bag, a torch, strands of hair collected from the scene, currency notes of ₹10 and ₹50 found near the paddy field, and CCTV video footage.

Advocate Gangadharan said Saleem had previously been arrested in 2022 for sexually assaulting his relative's 13-year-old daughter, who has a mild intellectual disability. "He had offered to drop the girl off at school and assaulted her," he said. She revealed her ordeal during the school counselling.

"When he was arrested in the second case, we approached the court and got his bail in the first case cancelled. He has been in prison since then," the public prosecutor said.

He noted that the charges in the first case are more severe, and the trial for that case is scheduled to begin soon.