Chandigarh: Auto driver awarded 3-yr rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting minor

A local court has awarded three-year rigorous imprisonment to an auto-rickshaw driver for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl in August 2022.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on the convict, Abdul Samad, 43, of Kajheri village, Sector 52.
The victim back then was a student of Class 3 at a government school. The accused had been hired to pick and drop her and her younger sister, studying in Class 1 in the same school.
On the day of the incident, the accused had dropped them home over half an hour late.
On being coaxed, the victim told her mother that the accused had lured her by offering to take her to a park with swings and buying her chips. She accused him of lifting her skirt, touching her inappropriately and kissing her on the lips.
After the incident, the accused had also given the child ₹20 not to disclose the incident to her mother.
After the child confided in her mother, police were sounded. Subsequently, a case under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 376-AB (rape on a woman under 12 years of age) of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 8 (sexual assault) of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered at the Sector 36 police station.
While sections of rape were added in the FIR, the accused was convicted only under Section 8 of POCSO.