Man gets life term for assaulting 3yo girl

Amroha: A special Pocso court in Amroha has sentenced a 25-year-old man to life imprisonment within 60 days of trial for sexually assaulting a three-and-a-half-year-old girl. The court of additional sessions judge Hemlata Tyagi also imposed a penalty of Rs 70,000 on the convict.Amroha SP Lakhan Singh Yadav said the crime took place on Jan 6 when the child, who was playing outside her house, was lured on some pretext by the accused from a nearby village. After she went missing, her family members launched a search and found her in a semi-conscious condition in a field near the village. She was taken to hospital where medical examination confirmed the assault.The SP said CCTV footage installed under the state’s Operation Trinetra helped identify the accused, who was arrested the same night following an encounter with police in which he sustained a bullet injury to his leg. A case was registered against him under sections 65(2) (rape), 137(2) (kidnapping) of BNS and sections 5M/6 of Pocso Act.A chargesheet was filed on Feb 2 and trial proceedings began two weeks later, during which nine witnesses testified across 12 hearings. Based on the survivor’s identification of the accused and medical evidence, the court pronounced the man guilty on Friday.