Tamil Nadu: Nirmala Devi gets 10 yrs RI, Rs 2.4 L fine

Nirmala Devi, the main defendant in an attempt to entice female college students to provide sexual favors to Madurai Kamaraj University authorities in 2018, was sentenced to ten years of hard labour by the Fast Track Mahila Court in Srivilliputhur on Tuesday. She was also fined Rs 2.42 lakh by the court.

The court found Nirmala, the Devanga Arts College assistant professor who was placed on suspension, guilty on Monday. Due to a dearth of evidence, MKU associate professor Murugan and research scholar Karuppasamy, the other two suspects in the case, were found not guilty. Judge T Bagavathi Ammal said that the punishment’s magnitude will be decided on Tuesday in response to Nirmala’s attorney’s plea to present their case.

Nirmala was sentenced on Tuesday to ten years of concurrent imprisonment under five sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. These sections include section 370(i) for seven years of imprisonment, section 370(iii) for ten years of imprisonment, section 5(i)(a) for five years of imprisonment, section 9 for ten years of imprisonment, and section 67 of the IT Act for three years of imprisonment.

Following the ruling, Special Public Prosecutor M Chandrasekaran addressed the media and said, “The defense attorney representing Nirmala has requested leniency in the conviction, bringing forth several aspects, including the accused’s daughters.” He said that there was enough evidence in the case and that “we have stated that this kind of crime has to be prevented, so therefore no mercy should be shown.”

At a separate news conference, Nirmala’s previous attorney, Pasumpon Pandian, said that the CB-CID’s probe was a phony pretense to remove former governor Banwarilal Purohit from the case.

He questioned, “If Nirmala was used as a tool for this crime, what about the accused who took advantage of her?” Although Pandian expressed gratitude for the verdict, he claimed that past ministers of the governing party were involved and threatened to punish them if a complete investigation was conducted. He said that Nirmala “hide many truths during the investigation due to threats from politicians.”