New Delhi: A special court in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district Tuesday sentenced a doctorate scholar to life in a case related to the sexual assault of minor children and sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The special CBI court also slapped a fine of Rs 6.54 lakh on Victor James Raja and ordered him to pay Rs 4 lakh to victims.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had booked Raja and two others for sexually exploiting children aged between five and 18 years for two years, leading up to the case.
The probe agency first picked up Raja from his hometown Saliamangalam for sending an offensive email to the Prime Minister’s office on 16 March last year but after a couple of days, they declared he was booked under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). The agency alleged Raja had been sexually abusing one of the children for the past four years.
The CBI further said that Raja was forcing victims to perform penetrative sexual acts on each other as well as on other children, including a minor girl. He also recorded their photographs and videos, the agency said.
The CBI said it had analysed several abuse material of victims on the Interpol’s Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database, which led them to identify Raja as a perpetrator.
After filing the chargesheet last May, the CBI said their probe had revealed that Raja was sexually assaulting eight children, both male and female, between the ages of five and 18 years for a couple of years.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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