A 39-year-old man and father of three, Shynu, was sentenced to 50 years rigorous imprisonment on four counts for subjecting a 16-year-old girl to repeated sexual abuse. The order was passed by Special Judge Anju Meera Birla of the Fast Track Special Court (POCSO), Thiruvananthapuram, on Monday.

The accused was given 20 years under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code. Another 20 years for offence under Section 6 of (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Five years for the offence under Section 450 of the IPC (House-trespass with criminal intention). Five years for offence under section 10 of the POCSO Act (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault). The sentences will run concurrently, which means the accused will be in jail for 20 years.

The survivor is said to have been abused multiple times. First on New Year's eve on December 31, 2018. Then, barely a fortnight later on January 12, 2019. Further between January 14 and 15 the same year.

The first abuse took place when the accused took the survivor and her sister for a New Year's eve bash in Kovalam. After spending some time on the beach, the accused had taken the survivor, her sister and her friends to the terrace of an unoccupied house very near to his own. The minor is said to have been abused when the accused ushered her to the toilet on the ground floor of the unoccupied house.

The survivor deposed that her mouth was gagged to prevent her from screaming. She was also threatened with dire consequences if she revealed the abuse. The accused was the friend of her first cousin, the son of the survivor's deceased mother's sister. 

On January 12, 2019, the accused is said to have forced his way into the girl's house through the kitchen door when the father was not in the house. The survivor is a motherless child. A day later, on January 14, the survivor and her sister had left the house without their father's permission to witness a religious cultural event. Not finding the girls at home on his return late in the night on January 14, the father had registered a man missing complaint with the police. The girls returned on January 15. 

It was during the interrogation that the survivor revealed the abuse. The very day itself the vaginal swab and smear of both the sisters were collected and sent for medical examination. The samples of the survivor were found to contain human semen and spermatozoa.

Senior consultant Dr Devi Gayathri examined the survivor and found the vagina to be clogged with extensive fungal infection discharge. She took the vaginal swab and smear for chemical analysis which threw up signs of sexual intercourse. Dr Devi told the court that "such fungal infection and discharge was by unhealthy sexual practices like sexual intercourse with infected persons."

She deposed that in the vagina, semen could remain from 96 hours to 5 days and its traces would persist even after washing of the private parts. Though the accused denied the charges, using both his wife and sister to create alibis, the blood sample of the accused was collected for DNA profiling on November 28, 2019. The semen traces on the survivor's body matched the DNA profile of the accused.

While both the wife and sister said that the accused was with them on December 31 and January 12, the accused himself told the police that he had seen the survivor at the beach as part of New Year eve celebrations. Interestingly, the accused Shynu was in police custody for theft when he was handed over for forensic examination.