Kannur man gets 25 years in jail for sexually abusing foster child

Kannur: The Thalassery Pocso fast track special court on Friday sentenced a 65-year-old man to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment for sexually abusing a girl he adopted. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1,04,000 on the accused, a resident of Kuthuparamba in Kannur. Further, the special court judge M T Jalaja also awarded seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 15,000 on the convict for attempting to sexually assault the victim's sister. The case pertains to the incident that took place in 2016. The girl was repeatedly abused for three days after being locked in a room. The accused allegedly threatened to kill the girl if she revealed the incident to anyone. When the girl became pregnant, the man to terminate the pregnancy with the help of his live-in partner. However, when they failed to get a doctor who could terminate the pregnancy, the accused and his partner subjected the minor to severe physical torture to terminate her pregnancy. The incident came to light when the girl revealed her ordeal to one of her friends. Following this, she informed the incident to authorities of a childcare centre. She was given counselling after which police registered a case against the accused.