A special fast-track court in Attingal, in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, has handed over 15 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) to a male tuition teacher, who was found guilty of sexually abusing his 14-year-old female student and later, blackmailing her using screenshots of their video chat. Sebastian Shaiju is the accused.
The teacher is 33 years old and hails from the state's Puthenthope village. Justice TP Prabhash Lal awarded him the 15-year RI term, along with 33 years of imprisonment after finding him guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The two sentences will run concurrently, as mentioned in a report by The New Indian Express.
According to special public prosecutor M Muhsin, the prosecution's case was that Sebastian had sexually abused the girl when he used to visit her residence to take tuition in 2014. Later, he threatened the student and continued abusing her. Sebastian also forced the girl to indulge in a video chat with him and then took screenshots of the chat.
As the girl finally summoned the courage to face his threats, the tuition teacher created a fake social media account in her name and sent her the screenshots. He also issued her warnings that the pictures would be circulated. The victim had died during the trial. The prosecution relied on accounts of the witnesses and cyber and forensic evidence to prove the charges against Sebastian. The prosecution presented 15 witnesses and 22 documents before the court during the trial, as per TNIE.
