Latest News | HC Commutes Life Sentence of Three Persons
Get latest articles and stories on Latest News at LatestLY. The Madras High Court has commuted the life sentence given to a man and two others for crimes including kidnap of a minor girl and sexual assault.
Chennai, Mar 26 (PTI) The Madras High Court has commuted the life sentence given to a man and two others for crimes including kidnap of a minor girl and sexual assault.
A division bench consisting of Justices PN Prakash and A A Nakkiran passed the order recently, based on an appeal by the three persons.
While confirming the sentences of 10 and 2 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) respectively for kidnap and forcible marriage of the minor handed to the main accused Vijayakumar, the court reduced the life sentence for aggravated penetrative sexual assault to 14 years' RI without any remission benefits.
The bench reduced the life term handed to his accomplices-- Pastor Muniyandi and Joseph Raja-- for offences of abetting aggravated penetrative sexual assault to 10 years' RI and confirmed two years of RI each on other counts. The trial court was directed to take steps for securing the appellants, who were released on appeal bail, and imprison them. The judges noted that consent of the minor has no relevance at all in the case but it can, at the most, be considered as a mitigating factor while deciding the question of sentence. Vijayakumar, hailing from Kanyakumari district, befriended the victim during his regular visits to his sister's house near Gobichettipalayam in Erode district. The girl was staying with her grandmother. After getting acquainted with her, he lured her before eloping in August, 2016. He later took her to his friends' house before marrying her. However, the Kadathur police caught them following a complaint lodged by the girl's grandmother and later arrested the trio. The Mahila Court in Erode punished them with life sentence in November, 2017.
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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)