MADURAI: Confirming the conviction of a married man for sexually assaulting and impregnating a woman through coercion, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court directed the jail authorities to ensure that half of the wages earned by him in jail are disbursed to the victim's child as maintenance.
Justice KK Ramakrishnan passed the order last week on the appeal filed by the man challenging the order passed by the Mahila Court in Virudhunagar in 2019, convicting and sentencing him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.
The convict was a foreman in a match factory in Virudhunagar and the victim used to work under him. The judge noted from the victim's statement that the man threatened to inflict burn injury on her and sexually assaulted her by promising to marry her.
However, when she informed him about her pregnancy, he refused to marry. While the victim was coerced into giving consent, it was not a voluntary consent, the judge observed. Holding that the prosecution has proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt, the judge upheld the conviction and sentence.
However, the judge added that the court's duty does not end with this. Noting that the convict already has a child born through his wife, the judge said that two children are left in the lurch due to the man's act.
To ensure that both children receive maintenance, he directed the jail authorities to extract work from the convict and disburse his wages equally to both his children, adding that the authorities should submit a periodical report in this regard every six months.