Four men have been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for gang raping a 22-year-old woman six years ago. Tirupattur additional district sessions court - III judge, M Prakasan awarded the RI and also slapped a fine of Rs 7,000 for each.
The four men, Egambaram (23), Selvamani (28), Santhosh (24) and Ammalraj (24), were fined and sentenced to prison. Incidentally, Kuppusamy (28), the fifth accused in the case died during the trial period of the case.
Additional Public Prosecutor, A Dilli Babu said the incident took place on January 27 2006 evening, when Seetha (named changed), was returning home after working at a shoe factory.
Egambaram, the manager of the company where the victim was working, stopped her and forced her to nearby railway bridge where the four others were waiting.
She resisted and tried to leave the place but the men threatened her saying they would murder her and throw her on the railway track, if she refused to oblige.
“Five of them raped her, later she managed to escape at about 3 am on January 28,” said Dilli Babu. “She underwent humiliation and physical assault for nearly five hours.” Though the victim’s mother tried to hide the incident, her aunt forced her to lodge a complaint with the police. On 28 January, she lodged a complaint against the five with Vaniyambadi Town Police. After the complaint, police registered a case against them under sections 376(2)(g), 506(1) of IPC and Section 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act, and arrested them. On Tuesday, additional district sessions judge, Prakasan, found the four accused guilty of gang rape.
The judge awarded 10 years RI and Rs 5,000 fine for gang rape, one year imprisonment and fine Rs 1,000 for issuing murder threat and one year imprisonment under section 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act.
“The four should undergo the imprisonment concurrently, added the advocate,” said Dilli Babu. “If they failed to pay the penalty, they should undergo imprisonment for another 18 months in addition.”