Two convicted for gangrape of teen girl in Surat; sentencing on Feb 17

Surat, Feb 15 (PTI) A POCSO court in Gujarat’s Surat district on Saturday convicted two persons for the gangrape of a 17-year-old girl during Navratri festivities in October last year.

The court of special judge VV Parmar convicted Munna Paswan and Raju Vishwakarma. A third accused, Shiv Shankar alias Dayashankar Chourasiya, died from breathing trouble after being taken to a hospital for medical examination post arrest.

The three were charged under sections 70-b (gangrape of woman under 18), 115-B (voluntarily causing hurt), 54 (abettor present when offence is committed), and 309-4 (causing hurt in robbery attempt) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita as well provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The court said it will pronounce the quantum of sentence on February 17.

During argument for quantum of sentence, “exemplary punishment” was sought for the two accused so as to deter others from committing such a crime, public prosecutor Nayan Sukhadwala said. It also sought proper compensation for the victim under a state government scheme for such cases.

The court took into account testimony of 47 witnesses including testimony of medical experts, the victim and her friends etc.

She was gangraped in a deserted place near Mota Borsara village in Mangrol taluka under Kosamba police station limits around 11 pm on October 8. The friend who was with her at the time managed to escape and alert passersby, who then called the police.