A Tamil Nadu court awarded the death penalty to a 45-year-old man for assaulting five minor girls and described the act as the rarest of rare crime.
Published: April 24, 2026 9:34 PM IST
In a rare case, the Tamil Nadu High Court on Friday, April 24, awarded the death penalty to a 45-year-old man. He was charged with sexually abusing five minor girls, describing the act as a “rarest of rare crime”. The convict has been identified as Chandran, a woodcutter from a village near Singampunari. He was also ordered to pay a fine of Rs 11,000, while the judge directed the state government to provide Rs seven lakh each to the five victims.
Prosecutors said the crimes occurred over the course of a week starting February 4, 2024. During that time, with his wife away assisting their daughter after childbirth, Chandran allegedly enticed the children, all around 10, into his home while they played nearby.
When did the matter come to light?
The case surfaced after one of the victims told her mother about the abuse, following which her husband was informed. Based on a complaint filed by the girl’s father, the Thiruppathur All Women Police booked the case and arrested Chandran.
Pronouncing the verdict, the Sivaganga POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) Fast Track Court judge observed that the premeditated nature of the crime against five minors justified the maximum punishment.
Child sexual abuse on the rise
The cases of abuse of children have been on the rise in India. According to a report by the Centre for Legal Action and Behaviour Change (C-LAB), the country registered 80,320 POCSO cases in 2025 alone.
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UP court hands death penalty to man, wife for sexually assaulting several young children
A court in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, awarded the death penalty to a suspended junior engineer of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department and his wife for sexually abusing several young children and circulating pornographic material involving them online.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had registered the case in October 2020, in a statement said the court sentenced the two accused, Ram Bhawan and his wife Durgawati, to death for various offences under the Indian Penal Code and POCSO Act including unnatural offences, aggravated penetrative sexual offences, using child for pornographic purposes, storage of pornographic material involving children, abetment and criminal conspiracy.
