Three of the four men who gang-raped a woman in an abandoned textile mill last year have been jailed for life for the rape of another victim at the same spot weeks before.
Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the Mumbai court delivered the maximum punishment to the trio and another man after finding them guilty of rape, unnatural sex and abduction.
The court delayed until Monday the sentencing of three of the defendants and a fourth person in the rape of the victim several weeks later at Shakti Mills in Lower Parel.
Jailed for life: One of the men today sentenced for the gang rape of a call-centre worker at an abandoned mill in Mumbai. Three of the four will face another hearing on Monday to be sentenced for raping a woman
Another of the men sentenced today: Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the Mumbai court delivered the maximum punishment to the men after finding them guilty of rape, unnatural sex and abduction
Another of the men is escorted by police to his sentencing hearing: All four men sentenced today after a fast-track trial are expected to appeal the verdict in a higher court
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam speaks to the media outside court: He said he may ask for the death sentence for the three men who have been found guilty to both rapes
Mr Nikam said he might ask for the three defendants involved in both rape cases to be sentenced to death. However, all four men sentenced today are expected to appeal the verdict.
The two rapes at Shakti Mills took place last summer in the Lower Parel district of Mumbai, where luxury malls and condominiums stand alongside sprawling slums.
The men became aggressive and accused the woman's male companion of being involved in a local crime.
When he denied any involvement they tied his hands with a belt and took the woman to another part of the building compound where they took turns raping her, said Mumbai's Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh at the time.
Scene of the crime: Shakti Mills in the Lower Parel district of Mumbai, which is an area of great inequality where luxury malls and condominiums stand alongside sprawling slums
After the attack, the gang took the pair straight to a train station to stop them reporting the crime.
But the female victim went on to a hospital where medics were able to preserve vital evidence.
She then went on to stun India after her attack when she told local media that 'rape is not the end of life' - a groundbreaking statement in a country were rape victims are often shunned.
Her decision to come forward paved the way for today's sentencing, when the victim of that attack decided that it was worth her reporting her ordeal to police as well.
Neither victim can be named under Indian law.
A policeman stands guard at the scene in a file photo taken at the time: Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh told reporters that the men tied the victim's colleague's hands with a belt while she was gang-raped
CSI Mumbai: Investigators comb the area after the rape of the woman was reported
Both trials were completed in seven months by a fast-track court.
Rape cases are being handled more rapidly since December 2012, when a 23-year-old was brutally gang-raped on a moving bus in New Delhi.
No comments:
Post a Comment