3 get 20-yr jail for minor’s gang rape

Chandigarh, January 23

The court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge has awarded 20-year imprisonment to three persons in the case of gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in 2017.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 1.55 lakh each on the convicts, Shankar (25), Suresh Kumar (23) and Kamal Joshi (27), all residents of a village in the city.

In a complaint submitted to the police on October 29, 2017, the father of the victim had stated that his eldest daughter (the victim) had left for college in the morning that day, but did not return. He stated that he got to know that Suresh Kumar, Kamal Joshi and Shankar had taken her away with bad intentions.

The same day, the police found the victim and arrested the accused. A medical examination of the victim and the three accused was conducted. The accused were sent to judicial custody and the statement of the girl was recorded on November 8, 2017.

In February 2018, charges were framed under Sections 363, 366, 376 D and 120 B of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act against the accused. It was alleged that the accused kidnapped the girl from near a college, compelled her to have illicit relations with them. After committing the crime, they threatened her with dire consequences.

The accused wrongfully confined the victim in a hotel in Zirakpur from October 27 to 29, 2017, and gangraped her. Today, they were convicted under Section 376 (D) of IPC and Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act and sentenced to 20-year imprisonment. — TNS