Mumbai: The Mumbai Sessions court on Thursday held all the adult men accused in Shakti Mills gang rape cases of 2013, guilty of the crime. all the five accused were found guilty under section 376(d) of the IPC for gang rape and other sections including wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation and sections under the IT act
On August 22, a photo journalist and her male colleague had visited the ruined mills in Central Mumbai as a part of their assignment. Finding them alone, the accused initially offered to help them navigate the mill compound but later threatened to book them for trespassing, a railway property.
The accused then tied the male friend with a belt and took turns in raping her. During the incident the girl had received calls from her mother and her boss. The Mumbai police managed to solve the case within 24 hours by arresting a 17-year-old minor accused from his residence in Central Mumbai.
Within a week all the other accused were arrested. Two weeks after the incident, an 18-year-old came forward to register a police complaint alleging that she too was gang-raped by five men, including three of the arrested accused at that very location, just three weeks earlier.
The Mumbai police filed two different chargesheets in the case. But with both the cases bearing similarities, the Mumbai Sessions court in October last year clubbed the two cases. While the five adult accused, of which three are common in the two gang rape cases, were tried in the Mumbai Sessions court , the two juvenile accused are being tried in the Juvenile Justice court, which does treat them as ‘accused’ but juvenile in conflict with law.
Maharashtra home minister, RR Patil, who was present at the time of the verdict, said the press: The judgment was delivered in record time. We welcome the verdict. Mumbai prides itself in being a safe city for women. This verdict will be a deterrent, he also said.
During her deposition on October 17, 2013, the photojournalist fainted in court, while on October 30, 2013, the victim in the second gang rape case, during her deposition sought permission from the court to beat up the accused. Her request was however turned down.
Bureau Report
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