Another district and sessions court in Chickballapur sentenced a 28-year-old truck cleaner to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹50,000 in a case of kidnapping, child marriage and sexually assaulting a minor girl.
The convict was identified as Lakshman (28), a cleaner by profession and a resident of Gondipalli village, Bagepalli taluk, Chickballapur district.
Justice Latha Kumari, who presided over the case, found the accused guilty, sentenced him to 20 years rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹50,000.
A case was registered at the Patapalya police station on 30 May 2022 following a complaint of the disappearance of a minor girl. Initially, a case was registered under Section 363 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Subsequently, the police applied § 363, 343 and § 376 paragraph 2 letter n) IPC, Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) 2012 and Section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006.
During the investigation, the minor girl was traced on June 3, 2022 at the house of a relative of the accused.
According to the police, the accused got into a relationship with a minor girl, forced her to elope and married her, the police said. Based on her statement and the collected evidence, it was established that the accused kidnapped the minor and subjected her to repeated sexual assault.
The investigation was led by the then Chelur Circle Inspector Ravikumar, CPI, who filed the chargesheet in the Fast Track Special Court (FTSC-1), Chickballapur.
Published – 31 Jan 2026 19:21 IST
