Astrologer gets 10 years in prison for raping woman

Coimbatore: The district Mahila court on Thursday sentenced a 40-year-old astrologer to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a woman at her residence in the city in March 2021. Mahila court judge R Nandhini Devi handed out the sentence to M Babu of Udumalpet in Tirupur district.
Babu, an astrologer, used to engage with parihara (remedial) puja. A 37-year-old woman was taking care of her two mentally challenged brothers. Her parents who are daily wage labourers are the only breadwinners for the family. While the woman’s elder brother died in 2019, she struggled to take care for her younger brother, who became ferocious at times. One of their relatives connected the family to the astrologer. Babu then visited their residence on March 12, 2021, to conduct a special puja to help the family overcome their problems. Babu first conducted a puja for the woman’s younger brother. Later, he offered to conduct a special puja for their daughter as she was unmarried.
He asked her parents to wait outside the room while he did the special puja for their daughter. Babu then raped the woman on the pretext of performing a ritual. He also forbade her from revealing it to anyone, saying it would affect the family’s health. The woman eventually revealed the incident to her parents who approached police.
A case was registered against Babu under section 376 (i) of the Indian Penal Code and transferred to the all-woman police (east).
The trial was held before the district mahila court and special public prosecutor B Jisha appeared on behalf of the survivor. The court pronounced the verdict on Thursday and slapped a fine of 500 on the accused.