District Mahila Court judge M.P. Subramanian on Wednesday appointed advocate Shanmuganathan as Legal Advocate Commissioner to look into the welfare of the two minor girls from a children’s home in Pollachi, who were raped at knife-point by V. Veerasamy (24) of Valparai in June. He directed the Commissioner to execute his mandate till the girls attain 18 years and to monitor them on a monthly basis and submit a report to the State government by March 31 every year.
The judge asked the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority to pay a fee to Mr. Shanmuganathan.
He issued the directive while awarding the accused double life imprisonment and another 44 years’ jail term to be served concurrently.
Simultaneously, the judge ordered the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) to pay Rs. 2.5 lakh to each of the girls within 30 days. The district administration was directed to invoke the Revenue Recovery Act and recover the amount by liquidating TELC properties if it failed to pay the amount.
Quoting a couplet from ‘Tirukkural,’ the judge observed that the “heinous crime shook not only Coimbatore but also the entire State. The court is of the opinion that the scale of the punishment awarded in this case should deter anyone from dreaming of committing a similar crime.”
Mahila Court Public Prosecutor R. Sarojini argued that Veerasamy abducted the girls at knife-point during late hours of June 11. He raped the nine-year-old girl thrice, leaving her with severe bleeding injuries before raping the 11-year-old girl once.
The prosecution was able to prove, through forensic examination, that the injuries found on Veerasamy, after he was arrested, were tell-tale signs of raping the children, the judge said.
He was awarded 10 years’ for trespassing, two terms of 10 years for procuration of minor girl and two counts of seven years for threatening to kill the girls if they divulged the sexual assault.
The Pollachi All Women Police Station invoked Sections 450 (house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment for life), 366(A) (procuration of minor girl), 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Sections 5(4)(l)(m) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012, besides Section 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
As one of the girls belonged to a Dalit community, sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have also been invoked.
The children’s home was shut down by the district administration on June 12.
Further, a separate case is under way against the home administrator, Packinathan, and home warden Sureshkumar.
