A court in Ernakulam has awarded death sentence to Ameerul Islam, the accused in the Jisha rape and murder case, which had created widespread protest across the state.
According to local television channels, the principal sessions court in Ernakulam has also ordered life imprisonment, rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and 7 years respectively and Rs 5 lakh fine in other charges against him.
Ameerul Islam was earlier brought to Ernakulam chief judicial magistrate court on Wednesday for the announcement of the quantum of punishment.
The court on Tuesday had found him guilty of raping and murdering Jisha, a dalit law student.
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Claiming innocence, Islam told ANI, ''I didn't do anything. I don't know who did it."
The 29-year-old Jisha was brutally raped and murdered on April 28 last year, in which her body sustained at least 30 injuries, including in her private parts.
Yesterday, the Counsel for Islam told media, "The court has found the accused guilty to an extent that he had entered with a commission of an offense and thereafter has committed the murder. The court found him guilty for that."
"I will try to get minimum punishment for the accused before the high court," he added.
Earlier on September 17, 2016, the charges against Islam were filed under Indian Penal Code sections 376 (punishment for rape), 376A (punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim), 442 (house trespass), 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offense, or giving false information to screen offender), 302 (punishment for murder) and charges on Dalit Atrocities Prevention Act.
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The chargesheet of the case revealed that Islam, a resident of Assam, murdered Jisha following an attempt to rape her at the latter's residence in Iringol near Perumbavoor.
