Six get life term for gang-rape of Swiss tourist in Madhya Pradesh BHOPAL: Over four months after a Swiss adventure tourist was gang-raped and robbed, a fast-track court in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to all the six accused. A penalty of Rs 10,000 each was also slapped on them. Pronouncing the judgment, additional district judge Jitendra Sharma said, "The act of the accused is against the norms of Indian society and the nature of offence and circumstances under which the crime was committed do not justify any leniency to the accused." Those convicted were Rampro 23, Brijesh alias Gaja 24, Bhuta, 30, Hrishi alias Baba, 20, Bishnu, 25, Nitin, 22 — all residents of Kanjar Tola settlement, located 2km from the spot where the victim was raped and 8km from Datia district headquarters. The sentence was prescribed under section 376 (rape), 395 (punishment for dacoity) of the IPC, sections 12 and 14 of the Anti-Dacoity Act and under Arms Act. The 39-year-old Swiss woman, on a cycling trip with her companion, was gang-raped near Jhadia village in Bhuta jungle. The couple had decided to camp at the forest area for the night while on their way back from Orchha. They were proceeding to Agra. The chargesheet in the case was filed without a test identification parade. The recording of statement was a challenge for the prosecution which sought special permission from the court to get it done through videoconferencing. Public prosecutor Rajendra Tiwari said, "As per provisions of Section 273 of the CrPC, the statement of the victims is acceptable only in presence of the accused." But in this case, the victim couple left the country within 10 days of the incident and were not ready to come to Datia, he added. Later, her statements were recorded via videoconferencing by a special commission headed by the metropolitan magistrate of Patiala house court, Akash Jain, on May 25. The commission recorded her statement in the Swiss Embassy while the accused were present at Datia collectorate.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 21:11:05 +0000