Dubai, Nov 7 (IANS)

 A court in Bahrain has sentenced an Indian man to 10 years in jail for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old boy.

The High Criminal Court in Bahrain Wednesday convicted the Indian, a cold storage employee, on charges of sexually assaulting the boy, who is also an Indian, inside a shop in the city of Riffa, the Gulf Daily News reported Thursday.

The boy had come to the shop one evening to buy yogurt when the shop employee reportedly took off his clothes and assaulted him.

The man confessed to the crime in court and said he committed the crime as “the devil was playing with my mind and told me to do it”.

The boy's father reported the crime to police after his son told him about the assault.

The family later dropped the charges against the man, but the court continued with the trial.

"Even if the victim's family drops charges in such cases, it does not matter as the court has to continue with the trial," the report quoted the judge as saying in a statement.

"There should be a deterrent in society to protect our children from such acts,” the judge added.

The man will be deported to India after completion of his jail term.