A Kerala court on Tuesday sentenced three men to a cumulative punishment of 90 years each for gangraping a 15-year-old girl, daughter of migrant workers from West Bengal, back in 2022 in a tea estate in this hilly district of the state.
Devikulam Fast Track Special Court (POCSO) judge Sirajudheen P A sentenced the three men to varying punishments, under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and the IPC, for a total of 90 years.
However, as the sentences have to be served concurrently and the highest of the jail terms given to the men was 25 years, they will be serving 25 years in prison, Special Public Prosecutor Smiju K Das said.
The court sentenced each of the men to imprisonment for 20 years for the offence under section 376(3) (rape on woman under 16 years of age) and 25 years under section 376 DA (gangrape of woman under 16 years of age) of the IPC.
It also sentenced them to imprisonment for 20 years under section 4(2) (penetrative sexual assault on a child below sixteen years of age) and 25 years under section 5(g) (gang penetrative sexual assault on a child) of the POCSO Act.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on each of them and directed that if it was obtained from the convicts, the amount shall be given to the victim.
It also ordered the District Legal Services Authority, Idukki-Thodupuzha, to award compensation to the victim under the Victim Compensation Scheme.
The court had on Monday convicted three of the four adult accused in the case for the offence of gangrape of a minor girl below 16 years of age under the IPC and the POCSO Act.
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The fourth, who allegedly stood as a lookout while the other three carried out the crime, was acquitted by the court.
The then 15-year-old victim was gangraped on May 29, 2022 in a tea estate in Idukki’s Poopara village, known for its tea and coffee plantations, where the girl had gone with her friend.
According to her complaint, as she was talking to her friend, four people came there and allegedly beat him up and gangraped her.
Her friend shouted for help and the locals rushed to their aid, prompting the perpetrators to flee the spot, she had told the police.
