A special POCSO court in Kamrup metropolitan district of Assam on Thursday awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a hefty fine on a man convicted of child sexual abuse in 2022.

Finding the accused guilty under section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as well as section 448 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) the court in Guwahati relayed an exemplary punishment.

The conviction was based on a case numbered 353/2022 at the Noonmati Police Station in Guwahati and the accused was identified as Dwijen Ramchairy.

The court sentenced him to one year of rigorous imprisonment for the offence under section 448 of IPC, and a further rigorous imprisonment for 20 years and a fine of Rs 50,000 failing to pay which, he will have to serve simple imprisonment another year for the offence under Section 6 of POCSO Act. The fine amount shall go to the victim as a compensation, noted the court.

"The period of detention undergone by him during investigation as well as trial shall be set off against the substantiation sentence awarded against him and both sentences so awarded," added the court order.