A promise to drive away evil spirits allegedly became the pretext for sexually assaulting a 73-year-old woman inside her home. The Kerala High Court recently upheld a 61-year-old man’s conviction in the case, rejecting his arguments that inconsistencies over the date of the incident, a 19-day delay in filing the complaint and the absence of external injuries cast doubts on the prosecution’s case. It held that the discrepancies were not enough to discredit the survivor’s testimony and confirmed the 10-year prison term imposed by the trial court.

Justice A Badharudeen was hearing an appeal filed by the convict against the verdict of the Thrissur Special Court which had sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for rape, along with three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 for sexual harassment .…