India, Aug. 11 -- It is said he wept after his conviction, that he begged the judge to go easy on him, that he was innocent, a victim of a "political conspiracy", that he was only 34, a good student.

Unmoved, justice Santosh Gajanan Bhat sentenced Prajwal Revanna, the former member of Parliament (MP) from Hassan, Karnataka, to life imprisonment for his crime of raping an employee, a 48-year-old woman, hired as a labourer by his family on a salary of Rs.10,000 and a bag of rice a month.

Life imprisonment meant the remainder of his natural life, the judge clarified. Prajwal, often seen sporting diamond solitaire studs in the past, has also been asked to pay Rs.11.6 lakh as a fine, of which Rs.11.25 lakh will go to the survivor.

Prajwal i...