The Second Additional District and Special Sessions Court in Kalaburagi on Wednesday awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹2 lakh to Omkar alias Umesh, a resident of Ratagal village, for abducting a minor girl.
As per details provided by court sources, Omkar had, on March 27, 2013, abducted a minor girl from Kodli Cross when she was headed to Kalagi village for an examination. A friend, who was with her at the time of incident, immediately alerted her parents who in turn lodged a complaint with Ratagal police. After the initial investigation, the police found that the accused had abducted the girl for a forced marriage and registered a First Information Report (FIR) against him. Investigation officer Shivasharanappa H.C. completed the investigation and filed a chargesheet holding the accused guilty of crimes specified under Sections 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
After hearing both sides, Second Additional District and Special Sessions Court judge Gopalappa S. found Omkar guilty of committing the crimes specified in the chargesheet and pronounced the judgement on Wednesday. He awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹1 lakh under IPC Section 366, 2 year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹25,000 under IPC Section 506; and 7 year rigorous imprisonment and a fine ₹1 lakh under Section 18 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012. It has been clarified that the punishments would run concurrently and not consecutively.
The judge ordered the District Legal Services Authority to pay ₹1 lakh compensation to the victim. He also directed the authorities to pay the ₹2 lakh collected as fine to the girl.
Speaking to The Hindu, L.V. Chatnalkar, the special public prosecutor (POCSO), who argued for the State said that the provisions of POCSO were not invoked either in the FIR or in the chargesheet. “It was only in the advanced stage that the girl was found to be a minor and the case was transferred to the POCSO Special Court,” he said.