A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Bihar’s Bhabua has sentenced the two accused in the 2019 Mohania gang rape case to rigorous imprisonment of 35 year.
The special court of additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) Ashutosh Kumar Upadhyay also slapped ₹3.30 lakh fine on each of the accused and an additional six months imprisonment in case of its non-payment.
The court ordered the accused to pay a total fine of ₹6.60 lakhs to the victim and directed the District legal service authority (DLSA) to pay her sufficient compensation.
The gang-rape of a minor girl had created communal tension in Mohania town resulting in attack and arson for three days in the third week of November 2019. Two persons were injured in police firing and several injured in baton charges on the aggressive mob, adamant to destroy the houses of the accused.
The survivor’s advocate Mantu Pandey said that the 15 -year-old school girl was kidnapped by four youths in a car from near Mundeshwari Gate at Mohania when she was returning home after purchasing a “practical copy” at about 1pm on November 15, 2019.
The accused took her to an abandoned place at the bank of Durgawati river near Ratwar village and gang-raped her on the knife-point after gouging her mouth. They also made video clips of the rape and and left the girl after threatening to kill her entire family and to make the video viral if she informed the parents or police.
Angry locals thronged the roads and attacked shops and houses after the accused made the video clips viral on social media platforms on November 24.
A case was registered against accused Mohammed Shahnawaz alias Sonu, Sikandar Ansari, Arbaz Alam alias Pallu and Mohammed Kalamu alias Sonu, all residents of Mohania town, with the women police station at Bhabua under sections 376 (D), 366, 506, 504, 342, 341 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), section 67A and 67 B of Information Technology (IT) Act and sections 6, 12 (2) and 14 of the POCSO Act.
The statement of the survivor was also recorded under Section 164 CrPC the next day.
Police arrested the accused within three days and a charge-sheet was submitted in the court within seven days on November 30. The trial was commenced but no advocate could be agreed to defend the accused for one and a half years.
The two accused are facing separate trials as one was a minor at the time of crime.
Sixteen witnesses were examined by the prosecution and two from the defence. The court, on February 24, found the two accused guilty for the offences and fixed March 4 for judgement.
The court did not sentence the accused under POCSO Act as the prosecution failed to prove the survivor was a minor.
The survivor’s lawyer and parents said that they honoured the court verdict but added that the heinous crime deserved capital punishment for which they would move the Patna high court and the Supreme Court.
