Idukki (Kerala) | A 25-year-old man has been sentenced by a Kerala court to a cumulative 30 years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at a theatre in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu in 2022 by luring her there on the promise of a job.

Idukki Painav Fast Track Court Judge Nobel D S sentenced Muhammad Riyas, a native of Tiruppur, to a total of 30 years under various provisions of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on his, special public prosecutor (SPP) Shijomon Joseph said.

The SPP said that the convict will have to serve only 15 years in jail as it was the highest punishment given to him and all the sentences have to be undergone concurrently.

The court also recommended that the District Legal Service Authority provide adequate compensation to the girl, who lives near Marayoor here.

Riyas and the girl met over the phone and started talking regularly, the prosecutor said, adding that the accused lured her to Tiruppur on the promise of a job.

When she reached there by bus, he took her to a theatre which did not see many customers and sexually assaulted her there, the SPP said.

Following a missing person complaint by the girl's father, she was traced to Tiruppur and both of them, including the accused, were brought to Kerala, the prosecutor said.

It was during the recording of her statement that the crime was revealed, he said.

The court examined 35 witnesses and perused 41 documents to find the accused guilty of sexually assaulting the girl, the prosecutor said.