A court in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Friday sentenced five youths for 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for gang-rape of a 16-year-girl. The victim was gang-raped twice in two days at Madhyamgram in the district in October 2013.
The teenager died of burn injuries two months later at a city hospital resulting in huge outrage in West Bengal. Welcoming the judgment, the father of victim told The Hindu from Samastipur in Bihar that it has restored his faith in the judicial system.
“I thank the people of West Bengal and the Government of Bihar for standing by us in our fight,” the father told the correspondent.
Weeks after the incident the father of the girl, a taxi driver hailing from Bihar left West Bengal for good. He was offered help by the then Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar who had a job arranged for him as a driver with the Bihar government.
“It was the people of West Bengal who hit the streets demanding justice for my daughter, but I still feel hurt that the police had threatened me to leave West Bengal,” he said.
The father said that if the accused challenge the verdict, he would continue his fight to the Supreme Court and ensure that they remain behind bars.
During the second day the Additional District and Session Judge of Barasat Court, Shantanu Kumar Jha, sentenced five accused in the case to 20 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 5,000 each. Six persons were arrested in connection with the gang-rape while one accused turned approver in the case. He was made a witness and was released in the day.
