A division bench of Kerala High Court, on 17 December, upheld the death of a man convicted of rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in 2011. Earlier a fast track court in Thrissur had awarded death to the accused who hails from Tamil Nadu state where he is named in as many as eight criminal cases. The court noted that the accused had earlier tried to molest the victim and when she resisted his attempts the accused pushed her out of the train. Subsequently, the accused jumped off the train, caught the victim and raped her. The victim had succumbed to her injuries later.
Earlier, many social as well as religious organisations have been demanding death sentence in all cases of rape. Also, the demand of death sentence for rapists was strongly backed by many in the wake of the infamous rape-cum-murder case of a medical student on 16 December in the national capital.