Bombay High Court upholds conviction, 20 years' jail term of 5 men who gangraped school teacher

The Bombay High Court recently upheld the conviction and 20 years rigorous imprisonment of five men, who posed as policemen, kidnapped a 21-year-old school teacher and gangraped her [Ashwin s/o Ashok Donode & others vs State of Maharashtra]..A division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Govind Sanap noted that this wasn't a case of false implication as contented by the accused who had alleged that there was was enmity between them and the victim."The unfortunate victim at prime age of her life was subjected to a beastly attack of the accused persons. The manner in which she was treated during the course of the incident indicates that her womanhood, pride, prestige and dignity was defiled. The accused persons satisfied their lust in a shameful manner. The accused persons took advantage of the situation," the Court said..The bench was seized of criminal appeals filed by Ashwin Donode (28), Anil Ingle (35), Roshan Ingle (35), Pundlik Bhoyar (34) and Mohammad Afroz Pathan (38) challenging the order passed by a sessions court in Nagpur on October 23, 2018.The sessions court had convicted all of them under charges of gangrape (376D), kidnapping (366), common intention (34) and criminal intimidation (506) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).As per the prosecution case, the victim, a convent school teacher along with a male friend was standing near a Highway in Nagpur at around 8 pm on December 1, 2014 when the accused, who were on their bikes, stopped and enquired as to what she was doing with the boy on the highway. They posed themselves as policemen. When she asked for their identity cards, the men forcibly made her sit on her motorbike and her friend was made to sit on another bike. They then threatened them at knife point and asked them to co-operate.Sensing the threat, her friend escaped and ran to a nearby police station seeking help but by then the girl was taken to a forest area and was raped..In its order, the Court noted that the testimony of the victim was trust worthy as she had narrated the details of the incident and had remained steadfast on her statements during cross-examination. It noted that the victim identified all the accused since she had seen them from the light of their bikes, while they forced themselves on her. The Court further noted that one of the accused, Bhoyar had a fractured leg at the relevant time and thus couldn't perform sexual intercourse with the victim. Yet he was convicted as his semen samples were found in the cervix of the victim. "It is to be noted that the victim in such a fearful state of mind, might not have sensed the penetration. However, positive DNA report clearly indicates that this accused also had a penetrative sexual intercourse with the victim, otherwise, there was no reason to detect his semen in the cervix of the victim," the judges noted..Reagrding the contention of the accused that there wasn't any injury on the person of the victim, the bench reasoned that she would have been helpless and thus submitted herself."On the basis of the first hand vivid account of the incident narrated by the victim, one can visualise the precarious position of the victim in the custody of the accused. They had threatened the victim of dire consequences, if she did not submit to their lust. There were two minor injuries on her back. The major injuries might not have caused because the victim was helpless and could not resist. There was no alternative before the victim than to submit to the commands of the accused," the bench opined.The Court further relied upon the DNA results that connected all the five men to the crime..Advocates C R Thakur and S R Shinde appeared for the convicts.Additional Public Prosecutor S S Doifode represented the state..[Read Judgment]