India, May 1 -- A sessions court on Wednesday sentenced a 31-year-old man to five years' rigorous imprisonment for forcibly kissing an eight-year-old girl on the lips in their residential building in July 2022, holding the act to be aggravated sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs.10,000, observing that the offence was committed by "taking advantage of her tender age and vulnerability" and caused "mental trauma to the victim girl and her parents too".

As per the prosecution, the girl was playing outside her home when the accused, who lived in the same building, called her, pulled her by the hand and forcibly kissed her. The child immediately raised an ...