Two former students of OP Jindal Global University had their 20-year jail term upheld by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday in the case related to the gang rape of a female student of the Sonepat-based university.
The first information report in the case was registered and the female student’s statement was recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code on April 11, 2015. She approached the Supreme Court in 2015 for transferring the investigation to the CBI, and a special investigation team was constituted on the court’s orders.
The charge sheet filed by police under Indian Penal Code sections of rape and Information Technology Act named accused Hardik Sikri, Karan Chhabra and Vikas, who has now been acquitted by the high court.
Before approaching police, the student along with her parents complained to the university registrar accusing Sikri of sexual harassment, intimidation and blackmail over private pictures. The registrar inquired with the chief warden and the security manager. Sikri was then summoned to the registrar’s office and the complainant’s private pictures were found on his phone.
The allegations
The female student alleged that Sikri had pressured her into having sex with him after they became friends. She said Sikri allegedly got her to send him naked photographs of hers. He used the photographs to blackmail her and threatened to circulate them if she would not have sex with him again. According to the woman, she was forced to have sex with Sikri’s two friends as well. Vikas and Karan thus allegedly raped the woman once and twice respectively. These rapes allegedly took place on the lawns on the university campus after 10pm, and the three men threatened to circulate her private photos if she complained about them, according to her complaint.
