Kerala Antiques Dealer Monson Mavunkal Gets Life Term For Raping Minor

A Special POCSO court in Kerala on Saturday sentenced controversial self-styled antiques dealer Monson Mavunkal to life imprisonment till the end of his natural life for repeatedly raping a minor girl a few years ago and said the convict does not deserve any leniency.

Additional District and Sessions Court (POCSO) judge, K Soman, said the 53-year-old convict subjected the survivor girl, the daughter of his maid, to repeated rape for several months "under the protection of security guards with guns".

The Special Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Court also imposed a fine of Rs 5.25 lakh on Mavunkal, while sentencing him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act.

"...the convict who is found to have committed repeated rape on a minor girl by harbouring her in his residence, inducing her with benefits and exploiting the financial position of her family, subjected her to repeated rape for several months under the protection of security guards with guns and aborting her pregnancy at his residence does not deserve any leniency and he has to be dealt with adequate sentence," the order said.

The court has awarded him life imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life under Section 376 (2) (f) (being a relative, guardian, or teacher of, or a person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman, commits rape on such woman) of the IPC.

The same quantum of punishment was awarded for the offence under 376 (2) (n) (commits rape repeatedly on the same woman). The court has also awarded 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for offences under Sections 313 and 370 (4) of the IPC. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment for the offence under Section 5 (j) (2) of the POCSO Act.

The court said all the sentences will run concurrently.

The incident related to the case pertains to the repeated rape of the minor girl since 2019.

Prosecution lawyers, P A Bindhu and Sarun Mangara, said Mavunkal had been repeatedly raping the girl since July 26, 2019, and threatened her with dire consequences if disclosed to anybody.

The prosecution also submitted before the court that he conducted a pregnancy test in October 2019 and "unlawfully terminated" the pregnancy.

The case against Mavunkal is that he raped his maid's daughter on the false promise of providing her with financial assistance for education.

He had, however, argued that the rape cases were foisted upon him by the police to keep him in prison, as they were unable to find anything incriminating in the cheating cases against him that they were investigating.

The investigating officer, Crime Branch DySP, YR Restem, said there are a total of 16 cases, which include four rape cases against the convict.

"In another POCSO case, the trial will soon begin at Perumbavoor court. There are another two rape cases against him," Restem told the media, adding that chargesheets were filed for all four cases within 60 days.

A native of Cherthala, Mavunkal, who claims to be in possession of rare and historic antiques, was arrested by the crime branch wing of the Kerala police, which has been investigating a case against him pertaining to cheating Rs 10 crore from different people.

He was arrested on September 25, 2021, in one of the cheating cases against him. He has been in jail since then and is now accused in around 10 cases.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)