India – A court convicted an elderly man of sodomising a nine-year-old boy for several weeks in May last year and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

The convict identified as Surendra Nath Tiwari (62) was employed as a security guard at an under-construction apartment in Old Hyderabad’s Dabeerpura locality, close to the boy’s house.

According to the case details, one day the survivor came back home crying and narrated the ordeal to his mother. During the investigation, it was revealed that the convict sexually abused the child for several weeks and threatened him to keep silent.

The Rein Bazar police took note of the incident and filed a case against accused under Section 377 (Unnatural offences) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The man was proved guilty within a span of just four months, reported the New Indian Express.

Section 377 of IPC came into force in 1861 during the British rule. The section states that whosoever voluntarily indulges in intercourse with any woman, man or animal against the order of nature shall be liable for punishment under the section. In September 2018, the Supreme Court limited its application with respect to consensual sexual acts between homosexuals and regarded it as unconstitutional, indefensible, irrational and arbitrary in the aforementioned context. However, the section continues to be in force for sex with minors, sexual acts which are non-consensual and bestiality.