A man who raped a 98-year-old bedridden woman in Nellore in 2017, when he was 19, has been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the Eighth Additional District and Sessions Court, Nellore. The court convicted Valluru Penchalayya on Tuesday (September 22, 2026), nine years after the offence, which took place within the limits of the Santhapeta police station.

Penchalayya, a resident of Porlukatta, Nellore city, entered the woman’s home in the early hours of August 26, 2017, and raped her.

Her family members noticed that something was wrong with her health and took her to the Government General Hospital for treatment. There, doctors treated her and informed the police. Based on what the doctors reported and the victim’s statement, the Santhapeta police registered a case under Sections 376 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deal with rape and criminal intimidation.

District police officials monitored the case from the trial to the verdict using the Court Monitoring System (CMS), a mechanism under which the police track serious cases in court and see that witnesses and evidence are produced on time.

The court sentenced Penchalayya to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹1,000 for rape, under Section 376(1) of the IPC. It also sentenced him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for criminal intimidation, under Section 506. The two sentences will run concurrently, so the longer term, 10 years, is the time he will serve.