Agra : A court in Aligarh has sentenced four men to rigorous life imprisonment for gang-raping a 21-year-old Dalit woman at a crematorium in 2014. The court also imposed Rs 63,000 fine on each convict.
The crime took place in 2014 when the woman had gone to collect dung cakes. The convicts were Manish Kumar (34), Sachin (30), Anju (35) and Vijay (25), all from the survivor’s village.
Special public prosecutor Chaman Prakash said, “While rejecting the defence plea for leniency, the judge further observed that the crime was ‘grave in nature’ as the accused had gang-raped a young Scheduled Caste woman, assaulted and humiliated her with casteist slurs. Cautioning against showing leniency in such cases, special court (SC/ST Act) judge Pratibha Saxena observed: “If a lenient view is taken, it will create a state of lawlessness in society and strengthen the morale of criminals involved in heinous crimes like gang rape . Also, women will not only feel unsafe, but lose faith in the judicial process.
The accused were convicted under IPC 376D (gang rape), 323/34 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Prosecution examined six witnesses, including the survivor and the investigating officer, during the trial.