Five sentenced to life in 2016 Bulandshahr gang rape case

ASpecial Pocso margaret court on mon sentenced 5 men to lifespan internment for the gang rape of a woman and her 14-year-old daughter during a robbery on National Highway 91 in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr in 2016.The court of special Pocso judge Om Prakash Verma delivered the verdict against the convicts, identified as Jubair (35), Mohd Sajid (37), Dharmveer (36), Naresh (46), and Sunil (35), in a crime that sparked nationwide outrage. Along with the prison sentence, the court imposed a fine of ₹1.81 lakh each on the convicts, with half the amount earmarked as compensation for the survivors.In his order, the judge observed that rape is not merely an assault on the privacy and personal liberty of the victim, but it causes severe mental and physical harm. “Rape is not just an assault; it destroys the entire personality of the victim,” the court said in its judgment, underlining the long-lasting trauma inflicted by such crimes.The court highlighted that the 14-year-old was an unmarried minor girl who was pursuing her studies and had a bright future ahead of her. However, due to the heinous incident, both the victim and her family have been stigmatised in society.About the suffering of the woman, the court stated that her life too had been stigmatised as a result of the crime. The judge observed that every moment of her life had become akin to death and that it could easily be imagined that the purpose of her life had come to an end.The sentence comes two days after the court found the five men guilty under sections 395 (dacoity), 397 (robbery), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 342 (wrongful confinement), 376D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 6 of the Protection of children from sexual offences (Pocso) Act.“Forensic evidence, including semen traces matching the convicts, played a crucial role in the convictions,” said assistant district government counsel (ADGC) Varun Kaushik after the verdict. The convicts, who have been in jail since their arrests and denied bail throughout the trial, protested in court, claiming “innocents have been punished”.The case dates back to July 28, 2016, when six members of a Noida-based family, travelling to their hometown of Shahjahanpur, were targeted by the convicts near Dostpur flyover in the Dehat Kotwali area on National Highway 91.According to the prosecution, the convicts stopped their car by hurling an iron object at it. The convicts, alleged members of the Bawariya gang, took the family hostage and looted them of cash and jewellery in a nearby field. They then raped the woman and her daughter before fleeing.Police initially arrested three people in connection with the case, however, they were later let go. Probe into the matter highlighted serious negligence by police, leading to action against 17 officers, including the then Bulandshahr senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vaibhav Krishna.The Allahabad high court later ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter, following which the agency registered a case on August 12, 2016. The agency arrested six people, including the five convicted on Saturday.The sixth accused, identified as Salim, the gang’s alleged kingpin, died of an illness in Bulandshahr district jail in 2019, approximately four years after his arrest.The CBI filed its first charge sheet in the case in November 2016 against Jubair, Salim and Sajid, followed by a supplementary charge sheet against Dharmveer, Naresh and Sunil in April 2018.