Hailakandi youth sentenced to 25-years of imprisonment for forcibly marrying minor

Hailakandi, May 21 : A 25-year-old youth of Hailakandi has been sentenced to 25 years rigorous imprisonment by a special fast track court on Saturday for forcibly marrying a minor girl and subsequent sexual assault.

As per information given by public prosecutor Monika Deb, the incident occurred on January 16, 2022 in Assam-Mizoram bordering Ramnathpur village of Hailakandi district.

The family members of the 13-year-old girl filed a missing report in Ramnathpur police station accusing one Bijoy Bin. The case number 11/2022 was registered by the police under section 366 of Indian Penal Code. The complainant informed the police that the girl came out of the house for attending a kirtana in their locality and didn't return home.

Later on January 18, police found the girl at the house of Bijoy Bin and they were married.

Police arrested the youth under section 9 of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and section 4 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and sent him to custody. He later got bail after passing five months 13 days in jail.

On the basis of medical report and other evidences, the special judge Sanjoy Hazarika sentenced Bijoy Bin to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment under section 4 of POCSO Act and the youth was given five years rigorous imprisonment with a total of 25 years jail. The court also asked him to pay Rs 10,000 each in both the cases, Deb informed.