Kochi: A special court on Monday sentenced four persons to rigorous life imprisonment after finding them guilty of gang-rape of a Tamil woman at Kalamassery in February last year. Additional District and Sessions Court Judge K.T. Nizaar Ahmed also slapped a fine of Rs 55, 000 each on Athul P. Divakaran (22) of Thevakkal, Niyaz (28) of Vadacode, Manoj (21) of Manalimukku and Anish (28) of Edathala.
The court also awarded three-year rigorous imprisonment each to a couple -- K .V. Bineesh and his wife Jasmine -- for harbouring the offenders and assisting them to conceal the stolen items of the victim. The duo was also slapped a fine of Rs 15,000 each. The court on Saturday had found the accused guilty in the case in which the 37-year-old woman from Tamil Nadu was gang-raped and robbed of her valuables, including five sovereigns of gold ornaments and a mobile phone at an isolated corner of the HMT campus at Kalamassery on February 14, 2015.
According to the prosecution, Athul consired with his friends to rape the woman and he, along with Aneesh, picked up the victim along with another 55-year-old woman on the pretext of grass-cutting job on HMT campus. The two other accused got into the vehicle on the way and as they reached an isolated location, Athul tied the 55-year-old woman to a tree.
The four of them then gang-raped the victim and took nude pictures of her. The accused threatened the woman that they will publish her pictures if she revealed the incident to anyone. The victim, a Tirupur native, is a daily wage earner who has been residing here for the past five years along with her family.
