In a judgement passed on February 28, Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy noted that the trial court had perversely ignored the victim’s stellar testimony and acquitted the accused man in 2014.
Criticising the trial court’s order, the High Court said:
“On a cumulative reading of the entire evidence on record and the judgment of the Trial Court, even by exercising great restraint, it is to be stated that the judgment of the Trial Court is an affront on judicial conscience. Thus, I have no hesitation whatsoever in upturning the finding of the acquittal as to one of guilt.”
The High Court held the man guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for the offences of aggravated penetrative sexual assault, and illegal trespass into the victim’s house.
The Court sentenced him to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for the above offences.
The bench further directed the Tamil Nadu (TN) government to pay ₹10.5 lakh as compensation to the victim.
The judges observed that the victim had been subjected to immense physical and psychological violence. The accused had bitten her all over her body, and had tried to strangulate her after sexually assaulting her.
This had led to the blood vessels in the victim’s eyes rupturing, and oxygen supply to her brain being cut. She fell unconscious and suffered a sub-conjunctival hemorrhage. It was only because of the joint efforts of doctors from several local hospitals in Tiruppur district that she was brought back from the jaws of death, the Court noted.
Source: Barandbench
