A court has on Thursday sentenced a man who was found guilty
of the 2016 rape and murder of a law student known as Jisha to death in India,
a prosecution lawyer said. The 30-year-old victim was found dead by her mother
at their home in Ernakulam district on April 28, 2016.
She was left with signs of strangulation and more than 30
stab of wounds on her body.
Prosecution lawyer NK Unnikrishnan said the court handed
down the death sentence to the convict, Ameerul Islam for Jisha’s rape and
murder.
“Islam is a migrant labourer from north-eastern Assam state.
This was a brutal murder that shocked the conscience of Kerala. We are happy
that we managed to get the harshest punishment awarded to him by the court,”
Unnikrishnan said.
Under India’s legal system, the convict can challenge both
his conviction and sentence in a higher court.
The police were accused of botching the investigation.
The case triggered an intense debate in Kerala about the
safety of women, especially Dalit women.
The sentence comes a few days to the fifth anniversary of
gang-rape of another young female student in the Indian capital in 2012 which
led to widespread public outrage and strengthening of laws against sexual
assault.
One in four rape cases in India ended in conviction in 2016
according to the National Crime Records Bureau data, the lowest rate since
2012.
Activists ascribe this largely to shoddy police
investigations.
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