As the Ernakulam Additional Special Sessions Court heard final arguments before sentencing in the 2017 Kerala actor abduction and assault case, the courtroom became the site of a pointed debate over how accountability should be measured in a gangrape conviction. Both sides invoked the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder (Nirbhaya case) — a watershed in India’s sexual violence jurisprudence that led to major criminal law amendments — but to very different ends.
