On Friday, a Delhi sentenced five men to life imprisonment in the case of kidnapping and rape of a Danish woman in the capital.
The tourist, who arrived in India on January 1, 2014, visited Agra and returned to Delhi on January 13. While staying in the capital, she lost her way back to the hotel. A group of men near Connaught Place offered to take her back to the hotel, but instead took her to an isolated park and raped her.
“The accused men robbed the victim of her iPad, €750 and her bag. One of them had a knife with which they threatened her and took turns in raping her. The woman was then confined for around three hours by these men. She reached her hotel at 8 p.m. and narrated the incident to the hotel manager, who informed the police at 9.30 p.m.,” said a police officer investigating the case. The investigation revealed that the woman was gagged and beaten up.
Nine people were identified as the accused — of which three are juveniles. The six adults are Mahendra alias Ganja (24), Mohd Raja (22), Raju (23), Arjun (21), Raju Chakka (22) and Shyam Lal (55). During an in-camera hearing, the victim had identified three of the six adult accused as having raped her, but she failed to identify the juveniles.
In the final arguments, the prosecution submitted before a Delhi court that it had brought sufficient evidence on record against the six accused for their conviction. This was also termed a ‘rarest of the rare’ case as there was an eye-witness to the incident. A security guard had seen the accused assault the victim from a distance of 5 feet. He also identified them in the court.
Meanwhile, the court allowed the potency report of Shyam Lal on the record, due to his claim that he was impotent.
The date for the verdict was set on June 6, 2016, when five of the six accused — Mahendra alias Ganja, Mohd Raja, Raju, Arjun and Raju Chakka — were found guilty. The prosecution had sought life imprisonment for all the five convicts. Special prosecutor Atul Srivastava said the convicts had committed the offences against the woman in a barbaric manner. As the crime was committed against a foreigner, a message should be sent that the rule of law prevailed in India, Mr. Srivastava said.
Counsel for the convicts argued for a lenient punishment, submitting that they were young and hailed from economically poor background.
