On Friday, the special court 54 pronounced its judgement convicting the accused.
Chand Miya, Mohammed Rifakdul Islam, Mohammed Alamin Hossien, Rakibul Islam, Mohammed Babu Sheik, Mohammed Dalim and Azim Hossain were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life.
Taniya Khan and Mohammed Jamal were sentenced to 20 and 5 years of imprisonment respectively.
Apart from, two other people were convicted for offences under Foreigners Act for 9 months simple imprisonment. One of the accused was acquitted as he turned approved.
Last year May a video went viral after a woman was subjected to sexual assault which went viral. Union minister Kiren Rijiju also tweeted urging the public to help police to nab the accused. Bengaluru police who found out that the incident was reported in Kanaka Nagar in Ramamurthy Nagar police limits in Bengaluru city arrested all the accused and booked them under Sections 120(B), 201, 204, 323, 324, 343, 366(B), 370(A), 376(D), 376, 384, 504, 506 of IPC, Section 4 and 5 of Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, Section 67(A) IT Act and Section 14 of Foreigners Act.
The police who had arrested 12 persons found that 11 persons were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and one turned out to be local.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) Bheemashankar Guled said, “to deliver speedy justice, the investigation was taken up on war footing, using all scientific aids at disposal such as DNA Analysis, electronic evidence, mobile forensics, finger print evidence, voice sampling etc., the case was charge sheeted in a record time of 28 days.”
The Government of Karnataka appointed Special Public Prosecutor Veeranna Tigadi to conduct the prosecution and a special trial monitoring team headed by an ACP rank officer was constituted by the Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City to assist and monitor the trial process, ensuring no delays are caused. A total of 44 witnesses were examined by the Learned Judge and the trial was completed in a record time of less than three months, he added.
