MUMBAI, India
Four out of the five accused of the gang-rape of an 18-year-old telephone operator have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Mumbai court.
Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Shaikh, Salim Ansari and Ashfaque Shaikh, who pleaded for leniency, were found guilty of the gang-rape that took place inside the premises of a defunct and desolated textile mill compound last year.
Jadhav, Kasim Shaikh and Ansari are also waiting sentencing for the gang-rape of a 22-year-old photojournalist that also took place at the deserted Shakti Mills.
A total of seven people, including two minors, were arrested in both the gang-rapes. The two minors are being tried in a juvenile court.
The young telephone operator came forward and told the police she had been gang-raped after hearing about the gang-rape of the photojournalist and realizing she had been assaulted by some of the same men.
Both cases have been tried in a special fast-track court which has barely taken seven months to come to a conclusion, a revelation in India’s judicial system where cases can drag on for long periods of time without any ruling.
By Mubasshir Mushtaq
englishnews@aa.com.tr
