VADODARA: A former teacher of a private school in Vadodara was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday for raping a Class 12 student for three months in 2018 under the pretext of giving her good marks in the examinations.
The court of special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) judge GD Pasi also slapped a fine of Rs 13,000 on the convict Vinu Katariya.
The girl, who was then 16-year-old, was taken to hotels in Ahmedabad, Surat and Padra and was raped thrice between January and March 2018.
A student of science stream, the girl used to go for tuitions to Katariya’s house.
Katariya also used to video record the time he spent with the girl and had begun blackmailing her.
Katariya used to threaten the girl to make the video public if she did not give in to his demands.
During the trial, the additional public prosecutor submitted evidence against Katariya and also examined witnesses who deposed against the teacher.
The court upheld the evidence and their deposition to convict the 40-year-old teacher and sent him to rigorous imprisonment which can be extended to his entire life.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per the Supreme Court's directives on cases related to sexual assault)