When a court awards the minimum possible punishment in a criminal conspiracy of rape, it will send a wrong message to the society, said Special Public Prosecutor V Aja Kumar, soon after the sentencing in the 2017 actor assault case on December 12.
The first six accused men, including the prime accused Pulsar Suni, were found guilty by the Ernakulam Principal and Sessions Court on December 8. Each of them has now been sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 376D (gangrape) of the Indian Penal Code. A fine of Rs 50,000 each has also been imposed.
“The sentence that has been given is the minimum punishment, prescribed by the parliament for such a case. We will request the government to appeal against it,” Aja Kumar said.
The verdict on December 8 had acquitted actor Dileep, accused of being the mastermind of the crime. His acquittal had resulted in voices of solidarity for the survivor. Aja Kumar said that he had to read the judgment to understand how the conspiracy charges, that tied Dileep to the crime, were not proven true.
“You can’t say it is a failure of the prosecution. Otherwise how would the first six accused have been found guilty? But we are disappointed by the punishment given to them. We had strongly argued for maximum punishment. Twenty years is the minimum sentence, it is not a favour of the court, it is the right of the prosecution. This is not total justice. We have toiled hard in the past three and a half years and we will present all that we prepared in the right place at the right time,” Aja Kumar said.
Two public prosecutors – A Suresan and VN Anil Kumar – had resigned citing respectively bias and uncongenial atmosphere in the court, before Aja Kumar took over in 2022.
