HC confirms 7 year RI for man who sexually assaulted visually challenged woman

The Madras High Court has confirmed the orders of a lower court, convicting and sentencing an autorickshaw driver to seven-year Rigorous Imprisonment for abducting a blind woman and sexually assaulting her.

Justice R M T Teekaa Raman, who upheld the orders passed by a Mahila court here in April 2015, also ordered a compensation of Rs one lakh to the victim.

The judge, dismissing the July 7 appeal from Anbu Selvan challenging the conviction, also held that he is not entitled to sentence reduction when he pleaded that he may be released after considering the period of his imprisonment.

''...this court finds that the appellant appears to be a heartless person, having capitalised the situation on the helplessness visually challenged person.'' He ''successfully committed the act of sexual assault on her body and hence this court finds that the accused is not entitled to reduction of the sentence, not even for a single day.'' Taking into consideration the date of the incident and also that the charges are proved, the judge recommended to the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority to grant Rs one lakh compensation to the victim under the ''Tamil Nadu Victim Compensation Scheme.''