TIRUNELVELI: The Mahila Court in Tirunelveli on Saturday sentenced a man to double life sentences for sexually assaulting and throwing acid on a woman in 2016, which led to her death in 2017.
Police sources said on November, 2016, the accused Gnanadurai alias Chinnarasu took the 28-year-old woman on his auto, and attempted to strangulate her to death with a rope and threw acid on her. She was taken to a government hospital in Tirunelveli, but she succumbed to injuries in June, 2017. She had sustained severe injuries to her face, especially her eyes.
The woman was a sales attendant in a mobile shop and was renting out a house owned by the accused's brother. He had befriended the woman and sexually assaulted her multiple times before, police further said.
Initially, the Kalakadu police registered a case on charges of attempt to murder but later converted the case to murder charges. A case was registered against him under 342, 326(A), 376, 511, 379, 302, 354(A), 354(D) and 364 IPC sections, the police said.
Hearing the case, Sessions Judge (in-charge) T Panneerselvam found him not guilty under sections of 341 and 379 IPC. He was convicted with a life sentence under 376 r/w 511 and another life sentence under 302 IPC with a total fine amount of Rs 3,000. The sentences are ordered to run concurrently, the judge added.