Dance teacher sentenced to 52 yrs jail term by Kerala court for minor boy's sexual assault

Thiruvananthapuram | A Kerala court on Saturday sentenced a male dance teacher to a cumulative 52 years in jail for repeatedly sexually assaulting a seven-year-old boy, one of his students, six years ago.

Thiruvananthapuram Fast Track Special Court (POCSO) judge Anju Meera Birla sentenced 46-year-old Sunil Kumar to varying jail terms under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act for a total of 52 years.

However, as the sentences are to be served concurrently, Kumar will be imprisoned for 20 years, the highest of the varying jail terms, according to the court order.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3.25 lakh on the convict and directed that if the amount is recovered from him, it shall be paid to the victim as compensation.

According to the prosecution, led by special public prosecutor R S Vijay Mohan, the accused engaged in unnatural sex with the minor boy on several occasions in a room near the hall where he taught dance.

During the period from 2017-19, the child went to learn dance from the accused who subjected the victim to unnatural sex several times, the prosecution told the court.

Finally, the child refused to go for the dance lessons, but did not tell anyone what happened due to the accused's threats, the prosecution said.

The child revealed the ordeal suffered by him only when his parents decided to send his younger sibling for dance lessons to the accused, the prosecution said.

The prosecution examined seventeen witnesses and presented seventeen documents during the trial.

The prosecutor also said that another case has been registered against the accused for allegedly raping a 12-year-old boy and the trial is underway in that matter.