Life Imprisonment for 9 in Pollachi Gangrape Case

A MAHILA COURT in Coimbatore on Tuesday convicted and sentenced nine men to "life imprisonment till death" for criminal conspiracy, sexual harassment, rape, gangrape, extortion and blackmail of multiple women and girls in Pollachi between 2016 and 2018.

- M SARAVANAN @Coimbatore

Judge R Nandhini Devi delivered the verdict in the case in which the first FIR was filed in 2019. The court also awarded ₹85 lakh compensation to eight survivors in the case.

The accused—N Sabarirajan alias Rishwanth, 32, K Thirunavukkarasu, 34, M Sathish, 33, T Vasantha Kumar, 30, R Mani alias Manivannan, 32, P Babu, 33, T Haronimuspaul alias Haron, 32, K Arulanandham, 39, and M Arunkumar, 33, all hailing from Pollachi—were brought to the court from Salem Central Prison earlier in the day amid tight security.

The judge awarded varying terms of life imprisonment depending on the number of victims assaulted by each of the accused.