Kerala madrasa teacher gets 20 year sentence for sexual assault of 11-yr-old boy

A teacher who taught at a madrasa in Kerala was on Thursday, June 30, sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment on charges of illegal confinement and aggravated sexual assault of a minor boy, who was a student at the insititution. A fast track court in Perumbavoor convicted 55-year old Aliyar under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the Juvenile Justice Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The accused has been sentenced to a cumulative jail term of 67 years, but as the sentences run concurrently, he will serve the maximum jail term of 20 years, and has also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 65,000.

According to the 11-year-old child’s statement, he would visit the madrasa — which falls under the Thadiyittaparambu police station limit — in the mornings before school. But in 2019-2020, the teacher would call him to the madrasa in the evenings and sexually assault him there. As per PTI, Special Public Prosecutor A Sindhu told the court that on one occasion, the teacher had given the boy a mobile phone containing obscene videos for him to watch. His parents reportedly found the device and broke it in anger without realising the circumstances under which the child had it, the SPP told the court. After the child told some of his friends at school about the sexual abuse, a complaint was filed in January 2020 and the police registered a case.

On Thursday, Special Judge Satheesh Kumar V sentenced the teacher to 20 years imprisonment for each of the offences of aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a staff of an educational institution against one of its students, sexual assault of a child below 12 years of age and sexual assault on a minor by a person in a position of trust or authority, under the POCSO Act. The court also recommended to the District Legal Services Authority in Ernakulam to provide compensation to the victim under the Kerala State Victim Compensation Scheme.