Aizawl, Jun 16: A court in Mizoram’s Aizawl district on Tuesday sentenced two Border Security Force (BSF) jawans to 42 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a woman and attacking her with acid in 2017.
The court, however, acquitted the two of the charge of murdering the rape victim’s friend, whose body was found a few days later.
Additional District and Sessions Judge, Sylvie Zomuanpuii Ralte, had on June 12 convicted the border guards — Nilanjan Das and Dinesh Kumar — in the case under various sections of the IPC and pronounced the quantum of punishment on Tuesday.
The court sentenced both convicts to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment for gang rape, 10 years for rape causing grievous bodily harm and 12 years for acid attack, amounting to a total of 42 years’ rigorous imprisonment, which will run consecutively.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 each under these three counts, and on default, they will undergo an additional two months of imprisonment under each count.
Das and Kumar, residents of West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh respectively, raped the woman and attacked her with a corrosive substance near the Gaskata river in Silsuri West village in Mamit district on July 16, 2017.
Police registered a case at Marpara police station two days later based on a complaint filed by the victim’s brother.
The victim and her companion, Rangobi, had gone to the forest near the Gaskata stream to collect crabs and wild vegetables when they encountered the accused, who were then posted at a BSF camp in the area along the Mizoram-Bangladesh border.
The survivor testified that the two men forcibly took her to a nearby betel nut plantation, sexually assaulted her and later poured a corrosive substance on her face, causing severe burns, permanent facial disfigurement and loss of vision in one eye.
The court said that Rangbi briefly moved away from the spot when the incident occurred. She was found dead near the crime scene several days after the incident.
Post-mortem and forensic examinations concluded that she had been murdered.
During the investigation, police recovered forensic evidence from the survivor’s clothing as well as from the deceased’s remains.
Laboratory examinations detected traces of a corrosive substance linked to the attack.
The survivor identified the two accused during a Test Identification Parade conducted before a Judicial Magistrate on September 5, 2017, the court said.
During the trial, the prosecution examined 18 witnesses, including medical experts, investigating officers and locals.
The court relied heavily on the survivor’s testimony, which it described as consistent and trustworthy.
However, the court acquitted both jawans of the charge of murder in connection with the death of Rangobi, whose body was recovered from a forest area on July 27, 2017.
The judge ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the two accused were responsible for her death, noting the absence of a complete chain of circumstantial evidence linking them to the homicide. (PTI)
