LUDHIANA: A local court sentenced five convicts to life imprisonment for the remainder of their natural life and the juvenile to 20-year jail in Issewal gangrape case on Friday. The court of additional sessions judge Rashmi Sharma also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of the five convicts and Rs 50,000 on the juvenile.
On February 9, 2019, the group had gangraped a 20-year-old student after holding her and her friend hostage in Issewal. Police had booked 10 accused in the case and arrested six, including Jagroop Singh, a driver of Jaspal Bangar; Ajay, a resident of Tibba who hails from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh and worked as a driver at a petrol pump; and four nomads (two from Ludhiana, one from Nawanshahr and the juvenile from Jammu and Kashmir).
Special public prosecutor for the state B D Gupta said, “The accused were convicted on February 28. We had sought a severe punishment. The juvenile was tried as an adult. He has been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment, as, according to law, a juvenile cannot be given such a punishment that he can never come out of jail. The fine imposed on the convicts will be given to the survivor as compensation.”
The friend of the survivor said, “I attended the court proceedings and am happy with the verdict. I spoke with the survivor. She, too, is satisfied with the sentence. We wanted justice and it has been delivered.”
His friend said, “That day, the culprits had called me and sought ransom for their release. When they were sentenced today, their faces paled. The verdict will act as a deterrent. We were earlier seeking capital punishment for them. The former Jagraon SSP had said their old crimes would be probed.”
On February 28, the six were convicted of all the offences, except Section 397 of the IPC (committing robbery with deadly weapons) which was converted to Section 395 of the IPC (simple robbery/dacoity) as they were bare handed and so it was considered to be a simple robbery. They were charged under sections 376 D (gangrape), 364 A (kidnapping for ransom), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 B (criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 341 (wrongful restraint), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and Section 66E of the Information Technology Act.
