Danish woman's gangrape: Delhi court hands out life imprisonment to five men

A Delhi court on Friday handed out life imprisonment to five men for the gangrape of a Danish woman in the city. The judgment brings some closure to the incident, which sent shockwaves in the capital two-and-a-half years ago. Additional sessions judge Ramesh Kumar II, who on 6 June had convicted the five men, after which the arguments on sentencing took place. Arjun, Raju alias Chhakka, Mohammad Raja, Mahendra alias Ganja and Raju alias Bajji were held guilty of the offences of gang rape, dacoity, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and common intention under the Indian Penal Code. Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava had said the crime was committed in a “barbaric and inhuman” manner and he would demand the maximum punishment for the convicts , that is imprisonment till the remainder of natural life. [caption id=“attachment_2827010” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file photo of Delhi police.Reuters[/caption] “The manner in which this act has been committed is barbaric and inhuman and, despite mercy by the woman, she was not let off for about five hours. She was beaten while committing rape and the weapon of offence was also used in commission of crime,” he said. He said in India guests are treated as God but the convicts raped a foreigner, therefore, a message should be sent to the society that rule of law prevails in India and wrongdoers would be dealt with an iron hand. The five convicts sought leniency, citing that they belong to the 20s age group and come from poor family background. The victim had arrived in Delhi on 1 January, 2014, and stayed for a couple of days before leaving for Agra. After visiting several places, she returned to Delhi on 13 January, 2014, and stayed in a hotel in Paharganj near the station. On the next day when she was returning to her hotel, she lost her way and had asked one of the accused for directions when the men waylaid and gangraped her. The accused had robbed and raped the Danish woman at knife point near the New Delhi railway station in January 2014 after she sought directions to her hotel in nearby Paharganj area. One of the accused, Shyam Lal died in February in Tihar Jail here and proceedings against him were abated. Three minors are also facing proceedings before the Juvenile Justice Board in the case. Police said the accused were vagabonds who took the woman to an isolated spot near the Divisional Railway Officers’ Club, snatched her belongings and then raped her. With inputs from agencies