A court here on Wednesday sentenced a 46-year-old man to life imprisonment till death for sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl in 2018.
Sessions court judge P S Sasikumar also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the accused V S Raveendran.
This is the first case in the state in which a sentencing has been handed out after the amendment to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, was made in April 2018.
"The accused has been sentenced to life imprisonment till death under Section 376 AB of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," the judge said.
Section 376 AB of the IPC deals with the punishment for raping woman under 12 years of age.
It says, whoever, commits rape on a woman under 12 years shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that persons natural life, and with fine or with death.
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The incident happened on October 9, 2018 when the accused, who was a neighbour, took the girl to his house when she went there to play with friends.
The matter came to light after the child's mother approached the police.
It was further revealed that the accused had earlier also sexually assaulted the minor.