India, Oct. 9 -- The Kerala High Court has upheld the conviction and life-term sentence given to a 55-year-old autorickshaw driver for sexually assaulting a minor girl whom he used to ferry to school back in 2012-13.

A bench of justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar continued with the proceedings in the appeal of the autorickshaw driver despite his death during the pendency of the case and dismissed his plea.

The bench upheld the conviction and sentence of the appellant, saying the testimony of the child, who was a student of class 4 at the time of the incident, was "coherent and consistent."

"The alleged discrepancies do not, in our view, go to the root of the prosecution case or affect the core of her testimony. The trial c...