Seven get life term for raping 13-year-old Nalanda girl

PATNA: A special POSCO court of Biharsharif in Nalanda sentenced seven persons to rigorous imprisonment for life on Wednesday after finding them guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl while she kept begging for mercy and recording the video of their heinous crime and making it viral on social media platforms.
The court of ADJ-VII Mohammad Manzoor Alam also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of the convicts and failure to pay the fine would result in six months’ additional simple imprisonment.
The convicts who have been sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment are Mithun Kumar, Ranjan Kumar, Rahul Kumar, Karan Kumar, Ashish Kumar, Raj Kumar, Sonu Kumar.
The court also simultaneously sentenced three year’s imprisonment to Rahul and Sonu after finding them guilty under sections 66 (E) and 67 of The Information Technology Act.
Court also slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 each on both convicts and failure to pay it would result in three months’ additional imprisonment. All the sentences would run concurrently.
Court has also allowed a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the victim.
The FIR in connection with the incident was registered on the statement of the victim with Rajgir police station of Nalanda on September 25, 2019, after the video of the incident became widely circulated.
The case was put for speedy trial in less than two months after an intricate technical and scientific investigation by the police conducted on the direction of then Nalanda SP Nilesh Kumar to ensure that there is strong evidence against convicts for sentencing them.
Police had ensured facial recognition of all seven accused youths visible in the video through forensic analysis in the case.
Besides, police had also produced independent witnesses in the case who had identified the accused in the video.
The special public prosecutor (POCSO Act) Sushil Kumar had ensured deposition of 19 witnesses.
The incident took place on September 19, 2019, when the victim had gone to attend her coaching classes early morning. The victim had met with one of her friends with whom she went to visit Vipulgiri hills.
The seven convicts were already present there who thrashed the victim’s friend forcing him to flee and then took turns to rape her by pointing a knife and recorded the entire act.