Boy's testimony jails elderly siddha doctor for 20 years in Pocso case
Every morning, the boy and his eight-year-old friend, who lived above a Siddha clinic on a quiet Chennai street, would help the elderly doctor open up his clinic.
For their efforts, he would hand them a rupee or two, maybe a chocolate.
It was a routine they came to enjoy — until one day in May 2022, it turned into something else.
The boy walked in on the doctor assaulting a girl. He ran home and told his mother.
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Word reached the girl's family quickly. But what followed was anything but straightforward. Instead of taking the child to the police, the doctor's own daughter — also a Siddha practitioner — secretly took the girl to a hospital to assess her.
Doctors there confirmed injuries. When the families came to know, it exploded into a heated confrontation between the women. Eventually, the girl's family lodged a police complaint.
He was booked under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.
Still, the trial at the city's Pocso court rested on a fragile thread. The only eyewitness was the boy. His family, fearing backlash and court visits, left the neighbourhood overnight.
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For a while, it seemed the case might collapse.
S Anitha, special public prosecutor, said, "But police tracked the parents through their mobile number and convinced them to bring the boy back. In court, the child stood firm. His testimony sealed the fate of the now 63-year-old doctor."
The court on July 4, sentenced the man to 20 years in prison — based on the words of a boy who saw and spoke the truth. Judge S Padma, who penalised the siddha practitioner 10,000, ordered the Tamil Nadu govt to pay 2,00,000 as compensation to the survivor child.
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