India, June 17 -- The Chennai court's decision to hand down a 30-year, no-remission jail sentence to a 37-year-old man for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old Anna University student hinged on the survivor's "unwavering" and "courageous" testimony. Her consistent narrative, maintained from her initial complaint to her powerful court appearance, formed the bedrock of the prosecution's case, a copy of the judgment accessed by HT has revealed.

District Judge M Rajalakshmi, who presided over 31 hearings between March and May this year before delivering the final judgment just five months after the crime, repeatedly emphasised in her June 2 verdict that the second-year student's account did not waver under scrutiny and was corroborated by stron...