Overview
- Ernakulam Principal District and Sessions Judge Honey M. Varghese delivered the verdict after an eight-year trial.
- Accused 1–6 — Pulsar Suni, Martin Antony, Manikandan B, Vijeesh VP, Salim H and Pradeep — were found guilty of gang rape, abduction and related offences under the IPC and IT Act.
- Dileep, the eighth accused, was cleared after the court said the prosecution failed to prove conspiracy, and three other defendants were also acquitted.
- Kerala’s CPI(M) leadership said the state government will appeal the acquittal, with details to be finalized after reviewing the judgment.
- The protracted case involved 261 witnesses, several hostile turnarounds and a High Court-ordered probe into alleged unlawful access to a memory card in court custody that led to new evidence-handling guidelines.