Krishna Pujari
Mumbai court awards life imprisonment for the four persons convicted in Shakti Mills gangrape case.
The Sessions Court on Thursday holds five accused guilty of gangrape with two women in the abandoned Shakti Mills compound last year. The court will pronounce on Friday the quantum of punishment.
The principal sessions court judge Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi convicted Vijay Jadhav (19), Mohammad Qasim Shaikh (21) and Mohammad Ansari (28) in both the gangrape cases. Total seven accused, including two minors, were arrested in both the cases in which three of them are common. The court found Siraj Khan guilty in the photojournalist gangrape case on August 22, and Mohammad Ashfaque Shaikh, 26, guilty in the telephone operator gangrape case at the same compound on July 31, last year.
The court convicted accused for gangrape, conspiracy, common intention, unnatural sex and offences under the Information Technology Act.
The first case occurred on august 22, 2013 with a 22-year-old magazine photojournalist who had gone in mill with a male colleague on an assignment. Five accused (including a minor), were charged with raping her there after assaulting her colleague. They are Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari, Siraj Rehman and a minor.
The second case is of an 18-year-old telephone operator who was gangraped by five persons (including three of the accused in the first case) at the same premises on July 31, last year. The accused in this case are Mohammed Ashfaq Sheikh, Mohamed Kasim Hafiz Sheikh alias Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari and Vijay Jadhav.
Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali and Salim Ansari are common accused in the two cases. The prosecution examined 44 witnesses in the photojournalist’s case and 31 in the other case. Two minors, one in each case, are being tried by the Juvenile Justice Board separately.
R R Patil welcomes verdict
R R Patil, Maharashtra Home Minister during verdict was present in the court. Welcoming the verdict he said, “The cases were tried in fastest possible time and victims have got justice. Hope this verdict will act as a deterrent”.