Jisha rape and murder case: Kerala court holds Ameerul Islam guilty, sentencing today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A special court will on Wednesday pronounce the quantum of punishment to Muhammed Ameerul Islam, a migrant labourer from Assam, guilty of raping and murdering a 30-year-old Dalit law student in Kerala in 2016.

The 27-year-old woman was found murdered in her house near here on April 28, 2016. Her mother, Rajeshwari, who works as a casual labourer, discovered her body.

Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court judge N Anil Kumar on Tuesday held Ameerul guilty under various sections of the IPC including 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 302 (murder), 376 (rape) 376 (A) (causing death or causes the woman to be in persistent vegetative state while committing rape).

As many as 100 witnesses were examined during the trial, which commenced in April last.

The prosecution has described it as a rarest of rare case.

The woman, who hailed from a poor family, was brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house.

Islam, who had left Perumbavoor soon after committing the crime, was arrested from Kancheepuram in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, 50 days after the gruesome incident.

The police cracked the case after conducting a successful DNA test to nail the accused. Trial in the case was conducted in-camera.

The mother, who was present in the court to hear the trial, told the media before the verdict that she wanted her daughter's killer to be hanged to death.

"I'm very happy with the verdict. I'm thankful to all who helped solve the case," she said later.

The incident was in focus during the state assembly polls campaign last year with political parties attacking the then Congress-led UDF regime for 'tardy' progress in the probe and 'failure' to nab culprits.