KOTTAYAM: A court has sentenced a man, accused of abusing a minor girl, to five years’ rigorous imprisonment and charged him a fine of Rs 45,000.

It was POCSO court judge G Gopakumar, who delivered the sentence against accused Kanjirappally Nellikkunnel Joseph (Thankachan 54) on Thursday.

The incident related to the case happened on October 13, 2013. Joseph had walked into the house of the girl to invite the family for his daughter’s wedding.

At that time, the girl was inside the shop in front of the house. The accused approached the girl and sexually abused her after understanding that she was alone.

The girl’s mother who saw this while returning home is the witness in the case. As per the 9M section of POCSO Act, the accused was sentenced to five years in jail and levied a fine of Rs 25000.

He will also have to undergo two years’ rigorous imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 20,000 as per IPC 354 act. However, the court ordered that both punishments shall run concurrently.

Out of the fine amount Rs 25.000 should be handed over to the victim in the case. Adv M N Pushkaran appeared for the Prosecution.