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BJP leader gets lifer for sexual assault on minor girl

Gulf Today

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November 16, 2025

In a judgment that brings to a close one of Kannur’s most contentious child-sexual-assault cases, a POCSO Fast Track Special Court on Saturday sentenced leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and schoolteacher K Padmarajan to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a Class 4 student at Palathayi, Panoor, near here, in early 2020.

- AM Abdussalam

Judge MT Jalaja Rani delivered the sentence a day after finding the 49-year-old former Thrippangottur panchayat president guilty of multiple offences under Section 376 AB of the IPC and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Along with the life term, the court imposed a fine of XIOO, OOO and awarded him an additional 40 years of rigorous imprisonment on various POCSO counts.

The verdict marks the culmination of nearly five years of investigations, allegations of sabotage, political disputes and multiple changes in the probe team.

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