State vs Sudhakar — Anna Nagar child assault case

R Veeramani, a granite businessman and chairman of a company, and two associates were arrested in a POCSO case involving alleged sexual assault of a minor girl. The case was registered nearly 11 months before the arrest; investigators had previously sought to close the probe, but their bid was rejected.

A chargesheet was filed against several accused under various sections of the BNS, POCSO Act, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, Juvenile Justice Act, and SC/ST Prevention Act in connection with a case involving a minor victim at a brothel. The Karnataka High Court granted bail to a brothel customer accused, noting that he could not be expected to know the age and caste of the victim.

An FIR was registered on December 7, 2016, against an unknown person for the rape of a 5-year-old girl under IPC Sections 363, 366A, 323, 376, 376(2)(i)(j) and POCSO Act Sections 3, 4, 5(m), 6. The accused Dhanraj was arrested in February 2017 and identified by the victim in a Test Identification Parade. The Supreme Court acquitted him, finding the identification procedure fatally flawed.