A Kerala court on Wednesday sentenced a 43-year-old woman to 20 years' imprisonment for abetting the rape of her minor stepdaughter in 2021 at their home and another place, the perpetrator's residence near Valayam here.
The Nadapuram Fast Track Special Court (FTSC) also sentenced a 44-year-old man -- who repeatedly raped the class seven student -- to a cumulative punishment of 40 years, and the child's 44-year-old father to six months' imprisonment for not reporting the crime under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
FTSC (POCSO) Judge Suhaib M sentenced the main accused, Anil, to varying durations of punishments for separate offences under the POCSO Act for a total of 40 years, Public Prosecutor Manoj Aroor said.
However, as the sentences are to be served concurrently and the highest of the jail terms given to the man is 20 years, he will serve 20 years in prison, Aroor said.
The stepmother is already serving a 20-year jail term in Kannur women's prison for sexually assaulting the girl in 2021.
She was sentenced to a cumulative 75 years of imprisonment by the Nadapuram special court in September last year, Aroor said.
As the highest of the varying sentences awarded to her back then was 20 years, she is serving that presently, he said.
The father too was sentenced in that case for six months for the offence of not reporting the assault on his daughter, the prosecutor said.
Both of them are also facing trial in another case of sexual assault of the same child, he said.
In the instant case, the main accused repeatedly raped the girl at her home and at his residence, the prosecutor said.
When she told her father and stepmother, they told her not to disclose it to anyone.
After being subjected to repeated assaults on various occasions, the girl was taken to a rehabilitation centre where she disclosed what had happened to her and who all were involved, the prosecutor said.
Subsequently, the police lodged a case against the father, stepmother and the main accused, he said.
