HT Digital,
Chirang, April 29: A teacher in Chirang district, Assam, has been sentenced to five years in prison and fined under the POCSO act for molesting a seventh-standard female student.
The victim, a resident of Basugaon town, was allegedly molested by the assistant teacher in the classroom. Justice C Chaturvedi of the Chirang district judicial court convicted the accused, Dipak Kumar Bhagat, under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Bhagat was ordered to serve a rigorous five-year jail term and pay a Rs 20,000 fine. Failure to pay the fine would result in an additional two-month jail term.
The court order stated that any time Bhagat had already served during the investigation and trial would be deducted from his sentence.
The case came to light when a group of parents assaulted Bhagat in a classroom after learning of his attempted molestation. The incident sparked widespread outrage in the state.
