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New Delhi, January 18
A POCSO court today convicted two men in the 2013 east Delhi ‘Gudiya’ rape case, saying the case had shaken the collective conscience of the society.
Road to justice for Delhi’s ‘Gudiya’
Apr 15, 2013 Five-year-old gang-raped, brutalised
May 24 Charge-sheet filed against Manoj, Pradeep
Apr 12, 2017 Court declares Pradeep juvenile
2018 HC orders re-probe; trial court reverses juvenile order
Jan 7, 2020 Court reserves verdict
Jan 18 Court holds Manoj and Pradeep guilty
The gruesome incident, in which convicts Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar shoved objects inside the five-year-old victim’s private parts and abandoned her in Shah’s room believing her to be dead, occurred four months after the Nirbhaya gang rape-and-murder case in December 2012. The child was rescued 40 hours later on April 17, 2013.
Additional Sessions Judge Naresh Kumar Malhotra convicted the two, saying the child experienced “exceptional depravity and extreme brutality”. “Collective conscience of the community was shaken. In our society, minor girls are worshipped as goddess,” the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court said.
The victim’s father expressed satisfaction on finally getting justice for his daughter. “Though the trial should have been completed in two years, we are happy we got justice after six years,” he said.
The court fixed January 30 for arguments on quantum of sentence. Shah and Kumar were arrested by Delhi Police separately from Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in Bihar, respectively, in 2013. The charge-sheet was filed on May 24 that year and charges were framed by the court on July 11.
The police had said some foreign materials were removed from the victim’s body, which was also proved by doctors during recording of their statements in the court. Anger over the incident had spilled onto Delhi’s streets. — PTI
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