Man gets three-year jail for sexual harassment of minor girl

PTI, Aug 8, 2023, 4:52 PM IST

The additional district and sessions court here has sentenced a 31-year-old man to three years’ imprisonment on charges of sexually harassing a minor girl and also taking 15 sovereigns of gold ornaments from her family members.

Judge Manjula Itti also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the convict Roshan D’Souza of Jeppinamogaru in the city.

According to the charge sheet, the man befriended the minor girl, who was Christian by faith, and convinced her that he is also of the same religion and works for Infosys. After gaining the confidence of the girl, he took her to hotels and malls of the city and also asked her to keep their relationship a secret.

One day, D’Souza told the girl that he urgently needs some money. He went to her house and convinced her family members and took 86 gm of gold ornaments from them. Later, the man went with the girl to her grandmother’s house and took another 34 gm of gold from there, the police said. In total, he had obtained 15 sovereigns of gold ornaments from the girl’s family.

On March 30, 2016, he took the girl to Kadri Park and sexually harassed her, the police added. The girl reached home late on that day and when her parents questioned her, she narrated what happened.

When the family members enquired about D’Souza, they found that he was not a software engineer as he had portrayed himself to them, but worked as supplier in a catering company. A case was filed at Ullal police station.

The court also ordered the government to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation to the victim. Special public prosecutor Sahana Devi appeared for the prosecution.