Besides imprisonment, the special POCSO court also slapped a total fine of Rs 30,000 on other counts on each of the accused, half of which will be given to the rape survivor.
Special public prosecutor POCSO Act, Vijay Kumar Kushwaha, said that all the eight accused have been found guilty of the heinous crime.
“They were tried under 11 sections, including sections 5/6, 9/10 of POCSO Act,” he added.
“All the accused have been awarded life imprisonment ’till their last breath’ for this heinous crime,” he added.
The accused who have been sentenced are the main accused Rohit Saini, Bharat Kumar and Sanjay Kushwaha, Dharmendra Sen, Monu Parya and Mayank Shivhare, Shailendra Nath Pathak and Vipin Tiwari.
The trial was conducted in the court of special judge Nitendra Kumar Singh (ADJ 9 Rape and POCSO Act) in which 12 witnesses, including the survivor, her friend and a sub-inspector were heard.
The SI, who happened to pass by during the crime, had saved the girl from being further harassed by the accused.
The DNA sample of main accused Rohit Saini got matched and also helped as major evidence.
The incident took place on October 11, 2020, during the Covid pandemic when the minor girl was going to tuition with her friend. As they passed by the polytechnic on Gwalior Road, the accused who were all hostellers, caught the duo and dragged them inside the hostel which was largely vacant those days.
They raped the survivor and also thrashed her friend.
During the incident, sub-inspector Vikrant Singh, then posted at Gwalior Road police outpost, happened to pass from there. He heard the screams of the girl, rushed to her rescue and saved her from further humiliation.
The police lodged a case and got the accused identified through photographs on polytechnic admission forms. The accused were caught and sent to jail and were also denied bail.
As per Kushwaha, the charge sheet was submitted within a month by the investigating officer (IO), Arvind Singh.
Charges were framed in February 2022 and the evidence was completed by August during regular hearing.
On the other hand, the parents of the survivor said that their daughter was going through severe depression and had stopped stepping out of the house due to trauma after the incident.
–IANS
amita/dpb