Overview
- Pulsar Suni and five others received 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment each, a Rs 50,000 fine apiece, and the court ordered Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the survivor.
- All six were also convicted under IT Act provisions for recording the assault; Suni got an additional five years and a Rs 1 lakh fine, and driver Martin Antony received three years under IPC 201, with sentences to run concurrently.
- Judge Honey M. Varghese said sentencing cannot be driven by public pressure and cautioned media and lawyers against distorting proceedings, with contempt petitions to be heard on December 18.
- The court had acquitted actor Dileep and three others on December 8; the prosecution had sought life terms for the six convicted and is preparing appeals against the acquittals.
- The Avalkoppam solidarity campaign reappeared in Kerala after the verdict, echoing wider reforms sparked by the WCC and the Justice Hema Committee’s findings on workplace abuse in Malayalam cinema.