Four soldiers of Army’s Cavalry Regiment on duty as President’s bodyguard were convicted for raping a 17-year-old girl at Budhha Jayanti Park on 6th Oct’03. The victim is a Delhi University student who along with her boyfriend went to the park, which is situated in the backyard of the Presidential House known as ‘Rastrapati Bhawan.’
The soldiers beat up the boy, robbed the couple and then while two raped the girl, taking turns, the other two blocked the boy and kept watch.
The men are one each from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and are cadres of the 1990-95 batch of the army. Three of them are married.
The prosecution produced 25 witnesses and the victim girl not only identified the four men but also gave a detailed description of the crime with clinching evidence.
A city trial court found all the four men guilty of kidnapping (Sec 366 of IPC) and robbery (Sec 394 of IPC), two of them being found guilty of rape (Sec 376/2/g of IPC) along with. While Harpreet Singh and Satyendra Singh have been convicted of gang rape, Kuldeep Singh and Manish Kumar have been convicted for being accomplices in the heinous crime.
The additional sessions judge S.K.Sarvaria would hear the argument on the quantum of sentences on 22nd August’09. As per the existing laws, the rapist can get a jail term anywhere between 10 years and life term and the other two accomplices are likely to get at least 7 years in prison.
It worthwhile here to mention that all the accused have already spent nearly 6 years in custody and the two accomplices (who have not committed rape) can expect early release as the sentences are likely to be reduced by the period in custody.
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