Anna University sexual assault case: Mahila court convicts accused Gnanasekaran, to pronounce verdict on June 2
CHENNAI: A Mahila Court in Chennai on Wednesday convicted A. Gnanasekaran, the sole accused in the case, of sexually assaulting an Anna University student on the institute's campus on December 23.
Mahila Court Judge Rajalakshmi said she will pronounce the verdict in the case on June 2.
The government counsel later told reporters that the prosecution filed 11 charges against Gnanasekaran and proved all of them using documentary and forensic evidence.
"Today, he was pronounced guilty by the court. The details of the sentence will be given on June 2," she said.
The court had framed charges against Gnanasekaran under sections 329, 126(2), 87, 127(2), 75(2) read with 75(i), (ii), (iii), 76, 64(1), 351(3), 238(b) of BNS and BNSS, Section 66 of the IT Act and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Women Harassment Act.
Gnanasekaran, a biryani vendor who is an accused in multiple other cases of thefts and other offences, pleaded not guilty.
The charges in the Anna University case pertain to rape, sexual harassment, wrongful confinement, abduction of a woman and criminal trespass.
The case came to light on Christmas day last year after the survivor lodged a complaint (on December 24) at the Kotturpuram All Women Police Station (AWPS) alleging that Gnanasekaran threatened her when she was with a male friend and then assaulted her and forced her to do sexual acts by threatening her.
Police sources said that Gnanasekaran had recorded the act on his mobile phone as well, which he showed to the survivor to threaten her to not report the incident. The student, however, came forward and reported the incident. He was soon arrested.
The FIR of the case was downloaded from the CCTNS website of Tamil Nadu police and broadcast by certain sections of the media which created a furore. Later the Madras High Court transferred the investigation into the case to an all-women Special Investigation Team (SIT), which also probed the FIR 'leak'.
The SIT filed a charge sheet in the last week of February before a magistrate court.
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