PATNA: A Pocso court in Supaul on Wednesday awarded death penalty to four persons for gang rape with two women and a minor girl of the same family and killing one of them when she tried to flee from the spot on October 8, 2019.
The rapists were so cruel that they gang-raped the woman despite her sustaining bullet injuries. She died while undergoing treatment at Nalanda Medical College & Hospital (NMCH) in Patna two days after the incident.
Pathak Alok Kaushik, additional district and sessions judge-VI-cum-special judge (Pocso Act), Supaul, awarded death sentence to Md Alisher, Md Ayub, Md Jamal and Anmol Yadav after finding them guilty under Sections 376 (rape), 302 (murder) and 34 of the IPC, as well as Section 6 of Pocso Act and Arms Act.
“All the four are in the 25-35 years of age group and belong to Narahiya village under Chhatapur police station area in Supaul district,” special public prosecutor (Pocso court) Neelam Kumari told TOI over the phone from Supaul.
As per the case records, the four, along with a few other criminals, waylaid a family of nine persons, including the two women and two minor girls, at gunpoint to a secluded place around 8pm when they were crossing a stream of canal on way to a Durga Puja pandal at a nearby fair.
The criminals took all the male members to one side and tied their hands with rope and closed their eyes with clothes. After that, they took all the female members to some distance, snatched their ornaments and gang-raped one woman and a minor girl. They thrashed the women when they tried to protest, the prosecution said.
“When the other woman tried to flee, one of the criminals shot at her. As she fell down, they mercilessly beat her and gang-raped one by one. The woman died while undergoing treatment at NMCH two days later,” said Neelam.
During the investigation, police found involvement of six persons in the crime. But, only four could be arrested. The court also ordered the convicts to pay Rs8 lakh each as compensation to the survivor and the deceased and an additional payment of Rs10 lakh to the kin of the deceased woman. The family of the deceased woman would be paid a total of Rs18 lakh as compensation, the special public prosecutor said.
(The victims' identity has not been revealed to protect their privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
