JOIN USA Mumbai sessions court on Thursday convicted five people in the two Shakti Mills gang-rape cases that shook the city last year.
Holding them guilty of the sexual assault of a trainee photojournalist on August 22, and the gang-rape of a call centre employee in a separate incident that took place on the same premises, Principal Sessions Judge Shalini Phansalkar said that she would pronounce the quantum of sentence in both cases on Friday.
The second case came to light after the call centre employee, who was gang-raped on July 31, recognised her attackers from the pictures released by the police while trying to track down the accused in the first case.
Three of the convicts – Vijay Jadhav, 19; Qasim Hafiz Sheikh alias Bengali, 21 and Mohammed Salim Ansari, 28, were found guilty in both cases. The fourth accused, Siraj Khan, 21, was found guilty in the gang-rape of the 23-year-old photojournalist, while the fifth accused Ashfaque Sheikh, 26, was held guilty in the sexual assault of the 19-year-old call centre employee.
Two minors, involved in both cases, are being tried separately by a juvenile court.Welcoming the judgment, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told media that he was “trying to seek maximum punishment” for all the five convicts.
After listening to the verdict in court, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil said: “The judgment has been delivered in a record time. Mumbai prides itself on being a city safe for women. This verdict will be a deterrent. We welcome the verdict.”
Following a nationwide uproar, the Mumbai Police managed to nab the seven people within three days after the August 22 incident and filed an over 600-page charge sheet against the accused in less than four weeks after the arrests.