A COURT in India found on Tuesday found a 23-year-old man guilty of raping and killing a 30-year-old female law student in 2016. The victim, who was identified only as Jisha, belonged to India’s lowest-ranked caste called the Dalits.

She was found dead at her home in Ernakulam district on April 28, 2016, with signs of strangulation and about 30 stab wounds on her body. The court found Ameerul Islam, a migrant worker from north-eastern Assam state, guilty of the rape and murder, prosecution lawyer K Satish said.

The court is likely to pronounce the sentence on Wednesday. The accused could face a death penalty after the verdict although, under India’s legal system, a verdict can be challenged in a high court and then the Supreme Court.

No fewer than 2,000 people were questioned in the case and 20 were subjected to DNA tests, until the police finally zeroed in on Islam, who was arrested 49 days after the incident.

The case also triggered intense debate about the position of Dalit women and in general the safety of women in Kerala. “The victim’s mother had told the court about her daughter facing constant harassment.

“The local community also failed to respond despite hearing “unnatural noises” from Jisha’s hut on the night of the crime,’’ the police had said.

Jisha and her mother lived in a one-room hut along a canal. Attacks on women came into public focus in India after a 23-year-old student was fatally assaulted in Delhi in December 2012. NAN

–   Dec 12, 2017 @ 13:17 GMT |