Rejecting a plea for 20 years jail term, the court said “it was for convicts to respect the lady especially when she was a tourist” and by their act, they have put “a stigma” on the country’s reputation.
Five rapists of a 52-year-old Danish woman will have to serve remainder of their lives in prison, a Delhi court ordered today, saying their “inhuman” and “brutal” acts of abduction and gang rape in 2014 had put a stigma on the reputation of the nation.
Rejecting a plea for award of minimum sentence of 20 years jail term instead of a term for rest of the life, the court said “it was for convicts to respect the lady especially when she was a tourist” and by their act, they have put “a stigma” on the country’s reputation.
“They do not deserve any leniency,” it said.
The court held the five men guilty for the offences under sections 376 (D) (gang rape), 395 (dacoity), 366 (kidnapping), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
While sentencing them for the offence of gang rape, the court also awarded varying jail terms to them for other offences for which they were held guilty.
Besides the victim’s testimony identifying three of the nine culprits, the court lent credence to the scientific evidence that included the DNA and FSL reports and the eyewitness account of a gardener as clinching evidence to ascertain the identity of all the convicts.
Ruling out the defence counsel’s charge of “fabrication” under “media pressure”, the court held that the “most vital evidence” to connect all these men with the crime was the DNA report and there was no possibility of any manipulation in medical examination and DNA report prepared in foreign land, that is Copenhagen in Denmark.
It said the DNA profile generated from the victim’s clothes matched with the DNA profile of the samples of the convicts which made it “clear that accused persons are the offenders who committed the offence”.
It said the manner in which offence has been committed by the convicts was “certainly inhuman” and the victim, a foreigner, had come to India with a faith that she would be safe but when she was returning to her hotel, she lost her way.
When she asked the men for directions, instead of helping her, they misled, abducted and gang-raped her in “brutal manner to satisfy their lust and rob her belongings,” it said.
“She had been subjected to such inhuman act continuously for long five hours ... Accused did not show any mercy when she was saying that do not rape her as she was having AIDS,” Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar II said.
In its verdict, the court concurred with the submissions of Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava that eye witness Shivji Singh was a “natural witness” and his presence cannot be doubted as his house was situated near the spot.
It awarded the maximum punishment while making it clear that rigorous imprisonment for life means jail till remainder of natural life of five convicts -- Mahender alias Ganja, 25, Mohd Raja, 23, Raju, 23, Arjun, 21, and Raju Chakka, 30.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 81,000 each on Raju and Raju Chakka, Rs 91,000 each on Mahender and Mohd Raja and Rs 1,01,000 on Arjun respectively.
It said since the convicts were poor, they were not asked to pay compensation to the victim but directed the Delhi Legal State Authority to consider the case and decide on a suitable compensation to be awarded to the foreigner under the CrPC.
The judge said it was essential for the court to ensure that adequate and just punishment, befitting the crime, is imposed upon the convicts, keeping in view the atrocity of the crime, the manner in which it was committed and defenceless state of the victim.
According to the police, the nine persons, all vagabonds, had robbed and gang-raped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014, after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers’ Club near the railway station.
The sixth accused, 56-year-old Shyam Lal had died in February this year and proceedings against him were abated.
The court said it was not dealing with Lal’s case as he has already expired.
Three other accused in the case are juveniles and inquiry against them is in progress before the Juvenile Justice Board.
Relying on the scientific evidence, the court held that matching of DNA profile clearly connects the convicts with the commission of crime.
“Furthermore, it is very important to mention that as per request from Indian government, the victim was subjected to detail medical examination at Copenhagen and prosecution witness no. 25, expert from FSL, has clearly stated that similarity has been observed in the report prepared at Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Copenhagen and the report prepared by him,” the court said.
It said that “judicial notice can be taken that there is no possibility of any manipulation in medical examination and DNA report prepared at foreign country i.e. Copenhagen and no suggestion has been given by the defence in this regard also.”
Dealing with the submissions of defence counsel Dinesh Sharma that victim had only identified Mahender, Arjun and Raju Chakka and not the remaining three during recording of her testimony in the court, the judge said all the accused were “connected by the FSL report”.
Holding the testimony of the eye witness as credible and trustworthy, the court said “it has come on record that prosecution witness (Shivji) had seen the incident but he was put under threat on point of knife by Arjun. Due to this, he could not intervene in the matter but later on when he reached his house and police approached him (and) he narrated the facts of the case to the police.”
The court also noted that Shivji had seen all the accused since their childhood and added that he was a “very important witness” in the case. It said his testimony was further corroborated by the deposition of prosecutrix and medical and scientific evidence.
It said the woman’s evidence “proves” that the incident continued for about five hours and during this, her mouth was not shut by the accused.
“She has stated in her evidence that she had also pleaded to the accused not to rape her as she was having AIDS. She has also stated that during that five hours till the incident lasted, accused were running back and forth from the place of incident sometime to buy glue for sniffing and to buy condoms.
“This evidence of the victim clearly proves that she must have raised alarm which were over heard by eyewitness Shivji Singh,” the court said.
It noted that the victim had identified three accused in the court and the involvement of the remaining accused have been proved by FSL report by their semen found on her top.
Regarding the defence taken by the accused that they had called a prostitute a day prior to the incident at the spot and established physical relations with her and had not raped the foreigner, the court said it was a “bundle of falsehoods and after-thought”.
The court also agreed with the submissions of prosecutor that the woman has not stated that the remaining three accused were not the offenders but she has only said that she was not 100 per cent sure due to lapse of time.
“In regard to identity, it is clear that the woman in her very first report which she had made to the police on which FIR was registered, she has stated about the involvement of nine persons i.e. six adult accused who are being tried here and remaining three are juveniles.
“She had uttered about the same number of culprit even after reaching her own country i.e. Denmark which has been asserted by PW 13 Resmus Nileson and PW 14 Britta (both Danish officials) which they have mentioned in documents prepared there and proved during this trial,” it said.
