The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the interim bail plea of one of the five men who were convicted and sentenced to spend their entire life in jail for abducting and raping a 50-year-old Danish woman.
Financial issue
Convict Mohd Raja had sought the relief to meet a previous employer to get money for his family needs. However, the Delhi Police said the employer’s address could not be verified as it was incorrect and subsequently, the convict’s lawyer withdrew the plea to file a fresh one later.
A Bench of Justices G.S Sistani and Chander Shekhar thereafter “dismissed as withdrawn” the plea by the convict.
All five have already appealed in the high court against the trial court’s decision in June last year convicting and sentencing them to life imprisonment for their crime.
‘Inhuman brutal’
The trial court had termed as “inhuman” and “brutal” the abduction and gangrape of the foreigner in 2014 and said that the incident has put a stigma on the reputation of the nation.
Nine persons, including three juveniles, were arrested in the case. Proceedings against one of the adults, 56-year-old Shyam Lal, had abated after he died in February 2016.
Case against juveniles
The proceedings against the three juveniles is still going on in the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).
The trial court in its June 10, 2016 order had said that the five convicts — Mahender alias Ganja (25), Mohd Raja (23), Raju (23), Arjun (21) and Raju Chakka (30) — should spend the rest of their lives in jail.
The court had also imposed a fine of ₹81,000 each on Raju and Raju Chakka, ₹91,000 each on Mahender and Mohd Raja and ₹1,01,000 on Arjun.
According to the police, the victim had lost her way while returning to her hotel and when she asked the men for directions they abducted and gangraped her in a “brutal manner to satisfy their lust and rob her belongings”.
Five-hour ordeal
It had also argued before the trial court that the nine persons had gangraped the Danish tourist for five hours at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014, after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers’ Club near the New Delhi railway station.
