Woman gets 20 years for sexually abusing boy at Hyderabad school

A 27-year-old woman in Hyderabad was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 20,000 after a Fast Track Special Court for Exclusive Trial of Rape and Posco Act Cases found her guilty of sexually assaulting a boy under her care. The woman worked as a caretaker at a school.

The police had registered a case in December 2017 after receipt of a complaint from the survivor’s father. Police invoked several sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and sections 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC against the accused.

In his complaint, the boy’s father told police that he found burn marks on his son, who, upon enquiry, revealed that a new



caretaker in the school was touching him inappropriately whenever he went to attend nature’s call. He told his father that the woman had joined the school recently and misbehaved with him every time.

According to the police, the boy told his father that the accused threatened the boy with dire consequences if he told this to anyone. She even burned him with a lit cigarette. Later the accused sexually assaulted the boy, the police said. She sexually abused him again to scare him further and prevent him from revealing anything to his parents, police said.

Based on the findings from the police investigation and the arguments presented in the court by Assistant Public Prosecutor Ayesha Rafath, the accused was convicted to undergo imprisonment for 20 years.