KOCHI: The District Additional Sessions Court on Tuesday sentenced Shobha John, the first accused in the Varapuzha sex scandal case, to 18 years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI). The court also sentenced eighth accused Jayarajan Nair, a former Army officer, to 11 years’ RI in the case, which pertains to the sexual abuse of a minor girl at Varapuzha. Pronouncing the quantum of sentence, the court sentenced both Shobha John and Jayarajan Nair to eight years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each under IPC sections 376 (rape). In case of default of the fine, stipulated as compensation to the victim, the convicts will have to serve an additional jail term of six months.
Shobha John, who was also found guilty under IPC 366A (procuring minor girl), will have to undergo another term of seven years, besides remitting a fine of Rs10,000. The court also sentenced both the convicts to three more years of rigorous imprisonment, besides slapping a fine of Rs 1,000 on each of them for offences under IPC 342 (wrongful confinement) and IPC 506(i) for criminal intimidation. If they fail to pay the fine, they will have to undergo RI for an additional term of one month.
The court had earlier acquitted five persons - Pushpavathy of Kasargod, Vinod Kumar of Cherupuzha in Kannur, Anil Kumar aka Kape Ani of Thiruvananthapuram, Jinson Jose and Byju P Varghese - in the case. One of the accused, Binil Kumar, had died during the trial proceedings. The Crime Branch had registered 32 cases in connection with the sex scandal of which chargesheets were filed in 24 cases. The trial proceedings have been completed in four cases.In 2011, the victim was taken to several places in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu where she was sexually abused by several persons. It was Shobha John who presented the minor girl to clients.