In one of the few timely justice deliveries, a special fast-track court in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh Saturday awarded life-term to all the six who sexually assaulted a Swiss woman and robbed her male companion four months ago in a far-flung village of the district The sensational case had raised a question mark on the safety of foreign women tourists in the country and created a sense of fear among foreign women backpackers.Additional district judge Jitendra Sharma also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of the convicts.While five convicts Baba, Bhutha, Rampro, Gaza alias Brajesh and Vishnu Kanjar were handed down life term for rape, the sixth accused Nitin Kanjar was given life-term on the charge of dacoity, said DIG (Chambal Range) DK Arya.
The 39-year-old Swiss woman, on a cycling trip along with her male companion, was sexually assaulted by these goons at a forest area near Sewda Road in Datia district on March 15 where they had camped for the night while proceeding to Agra."The complicity of the sixth accused in the crime was established on the basis of his involvement in dacoity and therefore the court awarded life imprisonment to him," said Chambal Range inspector general SM Afzal.
Though the DNA of Rishi did not match with other convicts involved in the gangrape, his culpability in the dacoity was established by the prosecution before the court which held him guilty under section 395 (punishment for dacoity) of the IPC and sections 12 and 14 of the Anti-Dacoity Act."It was the result of flawless investigation," Afzal said expressing satisfaction over the judgement. The court also awarded additional imprisonment of three years to Rampro under the Arms Act, which will run concurrently.The court ordered to pay Rs 50,000 to the victim out of the total fine imposed on all the convicts. All the convicts are residents of Kanjar Tola settlement in Jharia village, located about 2 km from the spot where the victim was raped.
Datia police had filed a chargesheet on March 26 without conducting any test identification parade of the accused and the trial started on March 30.The DIG said that recording statement of the victim was the major challenge for the prosecution as she had gone back to Switzerland after filing the complaint.He said DGP Nandan Dube and IG (Chambal Range) SM Afzal spoke to the Swiss ambassador and convinced the authorities to ensure the victim's presence in the court. Later, her statements were recorded via video-conferencing by a special commission headed by Akash Jain, a metropolitan magistrate of the Patiala House Court in New Delhi, on May 25.The commission recorded her statement in the Swiss embassy while the accused were present at Datia collectorate. Madhya Pradesh government had sanctioned Rs 8.5 lakh towards travel cost of the victim
