Kasaragod: A Fast Track Special Court in Kanhangad on Tuesday sentenced a 33-year-old man to 40 years of rigorous imprisonment for repeatedly sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl. The case, however, does not end there. His elder brother (37), who is the girl's mother's live-in partner, is also accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the same child. Judgment in that case is expected on July 31.

The elder brother is now serving eight years in Kannur Central Prison for killing his 62-year-old father. The brothers are also distant relatives of the girl's father, a rubber tapper, said public prosecutor Adv A Gangadharan.

The accused and the survivor were residents of a village in Balal panchayat under the Chittarikkal police station limits at the time of the offence.

On Tuesday, Hosdurg Fast Track Special Court Judge Suresh P M convicted the 33-year-old younger brother of aggravated penetrative sexual assault and house trespass, sentencing him to 30 years' rigorous imprisonment under the POCSO Act and 10 years under the IPC. "He will have to serve 30 years in prison as the sentences will run concurrently. He was also fined ₹60,000, and if the fine is not paid, he will have to serve another one year in prison," said the prosecutor.

The man had twice absconded after being granted bail during the trial. After being re-arrested eight months ago, he remained in Kannur Central Prison, from where he was produced before the court for Tuesday's sentencing.

The case took a darker turn during the investigation. The girl's mother had walked out of her marriage and moved in with the elder brother of the accused. They have two children from the relationship. The survivor and her two siblings continued to live with their father.

On June 28, 2019, the elder brother was arrested after his 62-year-old father died during a drunken altercation at their home. According to the prosecution, the father lunged at his wife with a knife and the elder son intervened and suffered an injury to his hand. Then, the son picked up a piece of firewood and struck his father on the head. The father bled to death. The son was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

He was out on bail in the case when he allegedly sexually assaulted his partner's seven-year-old daughter.

According to the prosecution, the brothers allegedly assaulted the child on separate occasions over several months from 2023 onwards. "They would come to the house separately, give liquor to the girl's father and wait until he passed out. They would then take the girl to another room and sexually assault her," Special Public Prosecutor Adv Gangadharan said. The elder brother's trial is being heard separately, and judgment is expected on July 31.

The abuse remained hidden until a neighbour found the child in a distressed condition and alerted a para-legal volunteer attached to the District Legal Services Authority. Police intervened the following day. The Special Public Prosecutor Gangadharan said the trial took time because the child initially struggled to speak about what she had endured. "It took considerable counselling before she was able to disclose the abuse. Her medical examination corroborated the sexual assault," he said.

The prosecutor said the girl's mother testified for the defence and claimed her partner had been falsely implicated because she had chosen to leave her husband and live with him. "But the allegation of sexual assault was scientifically proved before the court," Gangadharan said.

Following the disclosure, the child was shifted to a government care institution in Palakkad. Her siblings are now living with their maternal grandmother. The father is now working as a rubber-tapper in another panchayat.

The then Chittarikkal Inspector Ranjith Ravindran investigated the POCSO cases and filed the charge sheets.