Five given life imprisonment for raping an 11-year-old girl

A Special Women’s Court hearing cases under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act here on Monday sentenced five accused to a life term – life in jail for four of them – and different punishment for ten others for raping an 11-year-old hearing-impaired girl inside an apartment complex in 2018.

Special Judge R N Manjula sentenced one accused to seven years in jail and nine others to five-year sentence in the case that shook the conscience of Tamil Nadu. Pronouncing the verdict in a packed courtroom two days after declaring 15 of the total 16 accused guilty of the crime, the special judge said S Ravikumar (66), M Suresh (32), N Abhishek (23) and R Palani (40) deserved no leniency and sentenced them to life in prison.

While A Rajasekar (40) was sentenced to life imprisonment and B Erald Bross (58) to seven years in jail, judge Manjula awarded five years jail term for S Murugesu (54), S Paramasivam (60), A Umapathy (42), R Sugumaran (60), A Jayaganesh (23), B Deenadayalan (50), J Raja (32), E Surya (23), and A Jayaraman (26).

Delivering the verdict, the judge said since the convicts had served more than 18 months in jail, they are not being slapped with a penalty. A total of 17 people was arrested when the gruesome incident came to light in July 2018 -- P Gunasekaran was acquitted on February 1 and another accused, N Babu, died while in custody.

The hearing-impaired girl, who showed extraordinary grit by identifying the culprits, was raped by Ravikumar, a lift operator, in January 2018 who then involved his colleagues who worked as plumber and electrician inside the complex to sexually abuse the minor.

The minor was raped for six months until she poured her heart out to her elder sister in July 2018 who came home on a vacation. The accused were then booked under various sections of the POSCO Act and IPC.

Public prosecutor N Ramesh said though he sought capital punishment for the accused, he was satisfied with the verdict as the court has been able to serve justice to the minor.

Transgender activist and TV host Apsara Reddy, who helped the family during the testing times and organised a protest march in the city, told DH that the punishment will be a deterrent for anyone who thinks about sexual violence against children.

“This judgement shouldn’t lead the way to any pardon towards the accused so as to assure the public that such crimes and their perpetrators will not be allowed any leniency. A child even being a survivor continues to suffer the scars of this abuse for a lifetime. Why should these men just be limited to serving a temporary time?” she asked.