Rape attempt: man gets 12-and-a-half-year jail term

The Additional Sessions Court here sentenced a man to 12 and a half years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for attempting to rape a woman in 2017.

Additional Sessions Judge Shibu MP sentenced Arun Dev J. of Pattom Medical College to five years rigorous imprisonment for attempted rape, five years imprisonment for trespass, two years RI for using assault or criminal force with intent to outrage the chastity of a woman and another six months imprisonment for voluntarily causing harm.

The judge also fined the defendant 51,000 TL. If the fine is not paid, the defendant will have to serve more prison time.

The prosecution had alleged that the accused, who was the driver, and the woman’s husband contacted him in 2015 to take him to Ernakulam. However, the defendant then started sending obscene messages, calling her and threatening to rape her, and following her home. Once, he even forced her into a car, took her to a house near the Faculty of Medicine, threatened her, and then left her.

In 2017, when the woman’s two children went out to play in the evening, the defendant broke into her house, slapped the woman, made her undress and attempted to rape her. However, when his children returned unexpectedly, the defendant jumped over the apartment wall and ran away.

The defendant claimed that he had a consensual relationship with the woman and that they stayed together on several occasions.

The prosecution, represented by special public prosecutor Ajith Prasad JK, argued that there was no evidence before the court to prove the accused’s allegations that he had an affair with the woman.

Analyzing the evidence, the judge concluded that the defendant was guilty.

Prison sentences will be imposed concurrently.

The judge also ruled that the woman would be given ₹25,000 as compensation if the fine was paid by the accused.