65-yr-old man sentenced to 7 yrs in jail by Kerala court for sexual assault of minor boy

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 5 (PTI) A Kerala court has sentenced a 65-year-old man to seven years in jail for sexually assaulting a minor boy in April last year.

Thiruvananthapuram Fast Track Special Court judge Anju Meera Birla said there was no need to show any undue leniency to the accused as he had been sentenced to seven years in jail in the past for sexually assaulting a mentally challenged woman.

"The offence of rape as such is shocking to society. But that involves a boy. The same can be understood to have far reaching consequences. At no point of time can the repeated acts of the accused be taken in a light vein so as to accept the argument that minimum punishment ought to be imposed on the accused.

"This would be doing society a disfavour and sending the wrong message to the public in general. In the light of the repeated offence, there does not appear to be any reason to show any undue leniency to the accused," the court said.

It also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on the convict, special public prosecutor R S Vijay Mohan said.

According to the prosecution, on the evening of April 8, 2025, while the minor boy was going to the temple, the accused called him closer under the pretext of giving a handshake.

When the boy extended his hand, the accused forcefully pulled him on to his lap and grabbed his private parts and also invited him to go to a pocket road nearby with sexual undertones, the prosecutor said. PTI HMP KH