BENGALURU: The trial in the case pertaining to gangrape and torture of a 22-year-old Bangladeshi woman in Ramamurthynagar here on May 27 last year ended with a city court on Friday finding the 11
accused
guilty. The accused, including three women, were given
jail
terms ranging from life sentences to nine months.
The crime made global headlines after videos of the rape and torture, shot by the accused on their mobile phones, were widely circulated. The conviction order was passed within a year of the crime being committed and the accused nabbed. While seven accused were sentenced to life imprisonment, a woman was given a jail term of 20 years, a male accused a five-year jail term and two other women
imprisonment
for nine months.
After a video clip of the crime, in which four men and a woman were seen assaulting the woman, triggered public outrage across the country and in Bangladesh too, city
police
swung into action. After the identity of the accused was established and they were traced to a house in Bengaluru, a team led by then Whitefield ACP Manoj Kumar ME nabbed six of the accused. Subsequently, the others were arrested by Ramamurthynagar police.
Investigation revealed the accused were human traffickers and had illegally crossed over to India from Bangladesh. They would lure young girls from Bangladesh on the pretext of providing them employment and later push them into sex work. The gangraped woman was one such victim. Police said differences cropped between the traffickers and the woman and the former decided to teach her a lesson by raping her.
Of 12 persons arrested, 11 were convicted and one turned approver. The National Investigation Agency got involved as it pertained to cross-border human trafficking.
The police filed a 1,019-page chargesheet in 28 days and the state government appointed
Veeranna Tigadi
as special public prosecutor. In all, 44 witnesses were examined and the verdict was delivered by 53rd additional city civil and sessions judge N Subramanya.
Those sentenced for life are Chand Miya alias Sobuj, Mohammed Rifakdul Islam alias Hridoy Babu, Mohammed Alamin Hossein alias Rafsanmandal, Rakibul Islam alias Sagar, Mohammed Babu Sheik, Mohammed Dalim and Azim Hossein.
Their aide Taniya Khan was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Another accused Mohammed Jamal, charged for illegally staying and supporting the gang, got five years in jail. Two more women, identified as Nusrat and Kajal, got nine months each for not revealing the crime even though they knew about it.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
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