Chennai man, two sisters get jail terms for sexual assault of seven minor girls

CHENNAI: A special court in Chennai sentenced a 50-year-old man to a life term in jail for sexually assaulting seven minor girls – aged between four and 13 years. The court imposed a fine of Rs 85,000 on the man, identified as Perumal alias Iyamperumal.
Perumal’s two sisters, aged 28 and 30 years who were also his accomplices in the crime, were sentenced to prison terms. One of them got 20 years in jail with a fine of Rs 10,000 while the other has to serve five years in jail and pay a fine of Rs 5,000. The sisters had allowed him to rape their own daughters, Perumal told police.
Police raided Perumal’s shop in 2021 based on a tip that he was selling gutka. They checked his phone to obtain information about the people who had supplied gutka to him.
In his phone, the police found videos of young girls being sexually abused. They initially suspected that he had downloaded child pornographic videos. Later, it became clear that Perumal had engaged in the act. Perumal confessed to having sexually abused young girls for several months.
Perumal and his sisters were booked under sections 9 (aggravated sexual assault), 10 (Punishment for aggravated sexual assault) and 17 (Punishment for abetment) of the POCSO Act.