The Delhi High Court has acquitted three persons in a gangrape case of 2012, while observing that as the evidence of the prosecutrix did not inspire the confidence of the Court, it would be travesty of justice if the said persons were incarcerated any further.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh, however, upheld the order of sentence and conviction of the remaining three accused persons.
The Bench noted that rape was one of the most barbaric and heinous crimes that was committed not only against the dignity of the survivor, but also against the society at large.
As per police, on May 19, 2012, information was received at Police Control Room that a lady had been raped by several persons in a truck near Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj area. The prosecutrix, who was a ragpicker, used to come from Najafgarh to Madanpur Khadar for rag-picking. In her statement, she had stated that on the night of May 18, she was gangraped by Lucky, Vicky, Yasin Khan, Satyajeet Biswas, Uma Shankar and Amit. Thereafter, three of the co-accused took her in the Gramin Sewa vehicle and when the vehicle went out of order, they left her there, after threatening to kill her if she disclosed about the alleged incident to anyone. On the basis of her statement, an FIR was registered at Jaitpur Police Station.
The petition challenged the Trial Court judgment delivered in 2016, wherein the Court passed the order on sentence against the accused.
Justice Singh granted benefit of doubt to Amit, Satyajeet Biswas and Yasin Khan.
However, in respect of Vicky, Lucky and Uma Shankar, the Court upheld the sentence awarded to them by the Trial Court.