Idukki: The Fast Track Special Court here on Thursday convicted and sentenced a woman to a cumulative 42 years for facilitating the rape and sexual assault of her stepdaughter by three separate men on different occasions.

The separate incidents of rape and molestation of the then 13-year-old girl occurred in 2013 when the girl went to her stepmother's home during the holidays. According to the prosecution, all the accused were frequent visitors to the stepmother's house and committed the offences against the girl with her help.

Judge TG Varghese also convicted two of the men, separately, for the offences of rape and molestation and sentenced each of them to a total of 11 years, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Shijo Mon Joseph said.

The third man, who is 70 years old now, was convicted for molesting the minor girl and sentenced to three years imprisonment, the SPP said. Two other men were acquitted of the offences of rape and molestation against them, the prosecutor said, adding that the state will be filing an appeal against the same in the Kerala High Court.

Shijo added that initially the charge sheet was filed against all six accused together by treating the case as one. However, as the accused men had no common intention to rape the girl and had committed the offences on separate days, the case was split into five before the trial, the prosecutor said. The woman was the main accused in four of the five cases and she was convicted in two of them and acquitted in the remaining two, the SPP said.

In each of the two cases, she was sentenced to varying sentences for a total of 21 years, Shijo added. Since, the sentences were to be served concurrently, in each of the two cases she has to serve 10 years, the highest of the jail terms given to her, and therefore, she will have to be in prison for a total of 20 years, the prosecutor said.

Of the five accused men, one each was a co-accused in the four cases of rape and molestation, and two of them were convicted and two were acquitted. The convicted men were sentenced to 11 years each and will have to spend 10 years in prison, the highest punishment given to them, as the sentences have to be served concurrently, the SPP said. The fifth accused was the now 70-year-old man, who was the sole accused in the fifth case of molestation of the girl.

The separate incidents of rape and molestation of the then 13-year-old girl occurred in 2013 when the girl went to her stepmother's home during the holidays. According to the prosecution, all the accused were frequent visitors to the stepmother's house and committed the offences against the girl with her help. The court also directed the District Legal Services Authority to pay compensation for the rehabilitation of the victim, the SPP said.