The Additional District and Sessions Court for trial of atrocities and sexual violence against women and children on Thursday sentenced a man to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh for raping and impregnating a minor girl of 17 years.
The convict was a 25-year-old from Palluruthy. Judge K. Soman passed the verdict. The incident took place in July, 2018. The convict was found guilty of forcing his way into the house of the victim when she was alone and raping her. The incident came to light when the victim approached a hospital with stomach pain two months later.
The victim being a minor, the doctor alerted the police. During the course of the trial, the victim and her mother had defected in favour of the convict who had by then married the victim.
DNA results
The court found the convict guilty based on DNA test and other evidence. The judge passed the sentence quoting the Supreme Court and Kerala High Court verdicts on the significance of DNA results.
In the verdict, the judge observed that having married the victim did not absolve the convict of the crime.
He has been handed out the minimal punishment in view of the fact that he was just 22 years old at that time and other circumstances, the verdict observed.
The Thoppumpady police had probed the case and filed the charge sheet. Special Public Prosecutor P.A. Bindu and advocate Sarun Mankara appeared for the prosecution.
