RI for life to rapist confirmed

A division bench comprising Justice S Nagamuthu and Justice N Authinathan on striking down the appeal of the accused, said “The trauma, depression, pain and suffering of both the girl and boy; we did not allow ourselves to be swayed away from the objectivity and unbiased analysis of evidences. Our ultimate thorough analysis clearly would land us only in confirming the conviction of the appellant.” 

As per the case, on July 18, 2014, the 20-year-old girl, who was then in her final year graduation, had gone for a drive with her friend, a driver. As they were passing through Podampatti, the girl had got off the car to attend nature’s call. 

At that time, the appellant Subru alias Subramani along with three others — C Prakash, I G Mani and T Prakash — pushed her to the ground raped her one after the other. 

Her friend, who rushed to the spot on hearing her distress call, was attacked and tied to a tree. The four men also took a video of the rape on their mobile phones and threatened to leak them if they dare complain about it or approached the police. But based on a complaint, the Royakottai police registered a case and following the trial, the Fast Track Mahila Court in Krishnagiri on October 15, 2015 sentenced all the four to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. Following this, Subru preferred an appeal against the conviction and sentence. 

However, confirming the conviction the Division Bench in its order also held that “It is unfortunate that the trial court had failed to consider the issue of compensation to the gang rape survivor under the Victim Compensation Scheme introduced by Government of Tamil Nadu.” 

The bench said, “Though it is difficult to quantify the compensation for the horror and the grave trauma experienced, we feel that at least directing the government to pay Rs 8 Lakh as compensation would meet the ends of justice owing to the peculiar facts of the case.”