IMPHAL, June 25 MNS/Agencies: A court in Imphal today sentenced four men including two India Reserved Battalion (IRB) personnel to life imprisonment for gang-raping a woman chilli trader.
This has become the first ever case in the history of Manipur to give such a rigorous punishment to rapists in the state.
L Rojit, 28, IRB Haviladar Ch Ibomcha, 37, S Bijen, 34, and IRB riflemen Ksh Kenedy, 33, were sentenced to life in prison under section 376 (2) G of the IPC by the court of Session Judge, Imphal West, Salam Imocha Singh for kidnapping, robbing and gang-raping of a woman from Tamenglong district of Manipur last year.
The Court of District and Sessions Judge, Manipur West here found them guilty on June 12. The woman was gang-raped by the four on the intervening night of March 21 and 22 last year near Kakyai Primary School in Irom Meijrao.
Meanwhile, Women Action for Development (WAD) has congratulated the woman, her family and community in successfully completing her case against the four rapists. We appreciate your courage in fighting for your right and totally deserve it. You have become a rare example among all the survivors of different forms of violence against women who stand against all odds of such heinous crime.
“We also congratulates the Kabui Mothers Association, Rongmei Louphum, Meira paibi and others individuals and association for their tired less hard work standing for Jamthaliu, giving her support in terms of moral, physical and financial and guiding her in struggle for her rights and justice,” WAD said.
“We further appreciate the judiciary and the police department for their timely intervention and carrying out proper investigation for providing justice the woman and giving life time imprisonment as punishment to the accused for their deeds. We strongly believed that our police department will continue such intervention in the near future and all those pending cases will be thoroughly intervened for providing justice to the victims. We now believes that rule of law exist in our state,” it added.
The court further ordered to compensate the victim woman.
The judgment which delivered justice to a rape victim by completing the trial within a span of around eight months was lauded by the women activists who were present in the court room during the hearing by shouting various slogans inside the premises of the court appreciating the judge, public prosecutor and counsel of the rape victim.
Praising them, the women activists said that this landmark order of the court would be the milestone to check rape of women in the soil of Manipur.
Earlier, the court had already pronounced the four accused as under sections 328, 392 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3(1) (11) (12) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities) Act after charging them of kidnapping, robbery, armed act and gang rape under section 376 (2) G of the Indian Penal Code.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/four-involved-in-gang-rape-given-life-sentence/
