The Hindu : Life term for key accused in Suryanelli case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 13, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Life term for key accused in Suryanelli case

By Our Staff Reporter

KOTTAYAM JULY 12. The key accused in the sensational Suryanelli sex scandal, Dharmarajan, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Special Court Judge, V. Chandrasekharan Nair, today. In a landmark judgment, the court extended the maximum punishment to the accused under IPC Sec.376 (rape) and 376 (2)g (gangrape) and observed that it decided not to add any term of imprisonment for additional charges, which the accused had been found guilty of.

The court observed that the accused was a `hardened criminal' and his `act was so devilish' in ravaging the life of a `docile teenage girl' that he deserved no leniency from the court.

Legal experts here observed that the judgment by the special court was without parallel in Kerala, though rapists have been sentenced to life imprisonment in other parts of the country.

The court listened to the hearing on the prayers of the accused in the morning and reserved the sentence for the afternoon. The sentence was pronounced after the court reopened at 2.30 p.m. After the judgment, Dharmarajan was taken to the Kottayam sub-jail from where he would be taken to the Central prison.

Dharmarajan was the third accused in the Suryanelli sex scandal in which a minor girl was abducted and sexually abused by over 40 persons over a period of 41 days from January 16 to February 26, 1996. Originally, there were 43 persons accused in the case. One of them died during the investigation and two, including Dharmarajan, were absconding during the initial stages. Two still remain unidentified.

The Special Court had, on September 6, 2000, sentenced 35 of the accused to varying periods of imprisonment and had set free four of them. Dharmarajan, who was absconding, was nabbed by the Special Investigation Team from a stone quarry in Karnataka on September 17, 2000. The hearing in his case began on January 3 and lasted seven months.

On Wednesday, the court had found him guilty under IPC Sections 120 (b)-conspiracy; 363-abduction; 365-illegal confinement; 366 (a)-procuration of a minor girl for having sexual intercourse for another person; 368-unlawful confinement; 372-selling for the purpose of prostitution and 392-robbery, in addition to Sections 376 and 376 (2)g.

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