Hyderabad: Auto driver gets 7-year jail term for sexual abuse

HYDERABAD: A 35-year-old auto driver was on Monday convicted of sexual abuse of a seven-year-old girl by a local court, which sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years. The first additional metropolitan sessions judge, Hyderabad, also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 on the driver, who was charged under the Pocso Act.
The court also sentenced him to undergo five-year rigorous imprisonment under section 354 of the IPC and pay Rs 1,000 fine. Both the sentences shall run concurrently. The convict resides in Muradnagar. On September 29, 2018, he picked up the girl and other students from their school at Mehdipatnam.
The girl’s mother told the driver to bring her daughter to her relative’s place in AC Guards. “The girl’s mother was waiting there. Upon meeting her mother at AC Guards, she started crying. When her mother enquired, the girl told her that the auto driver had sexually abused her when she was alone in the vehicle,” Nampally police said.
The girl’s family members lodged a complaint with the Nampally police. Based on the complaint, a case was registered under section 354 of IPC and section 9 (r/w 10) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. He was subsequently arrested.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault