A long, long wait for justice, but here it is finally. A division bench of the Kerala High Court court has given Dharmarajan, convicted for gang rape, a life sentence in the 1996 Suryanelli case.

The division bench comprised Justice KT Sankaran and Justice ML Joseph Francis, which said there was no reason to disbelieve the girl's statement.

The case relates to the abduction and sexual exploitation of a minor girl hailing from Suryanelli in Idukki district by several persons in 1996.

The prosecution case was that the schoolgirl was enticed, abducted, and sexually exploited by a bus conductor on January 16, 1996.

She was later handed over to two others, including the prime accused Dharmarajan who was a lawyer by profession. The girl was taken later by them to various places and presented to several men.

The prosecution claimed that the girl was raped 67 times by 37 different people during the 40 days from January 16, 1996, to February 26, 1996. As many as 35 accused were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for varying terms from 10 years to 13 years by the Kottayam Special Court on charges of rape, gang rape, and kidnapping.

However, the High Court had acquitted all the accused except Dharmarajan.

The case took a high profile turn when the girl alleged that one of her rapists was Rajya Sabha Deputy Speaker PJ Kurien. However, the court refused to make Kurien an accused in the case thereby rejecting the survivor's plea.