Nearly three years after a 21-year-old college girl was gang-raped and murdered at Kamduni in North 24 Parganas, a Sessions Court in Kolkata on Thursday pronounced six accused in the case guilty, setting the argument for quantum of punishment on Friday.
The case triggered widespread protests after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called demonstrators outside the victim’s residence of having Maoist links when she went to meet the girl’s family.
Additional City and Sessions Judge Sanchita Kar found the three prime accused Saiful Ali, Ansar Ali and Aminul Ali guilty of gang-rape and murder under Sections 376(d), 302 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code. She also found guilty three others — Imanul Islam, Aminul Islam and Bhola Naskar — under the relevant sections for gang-rape and criminal conspiracy, besides 201 for causing disappearance of evidence but the latter three were not charged with murder.
Furthermore, the court found Saiful guilty of abetment to a crime and wrongful confinement under Sections 109 and 342 of the IPC.
Admitting evidences and statements, the court noted that Saiful had accosted the victim on the road on June 7, 2013, as she was on returning home from college. He then dragged her to a nearby farmhouse, where the Second-Year BA student was gang-raped.
Later, the perpetrators tore apart her legs up to the navel, slit her throat and dumped her body in a nearby field.
While dumping the body, some local residents caught prime accused Ansar and handed him over to the police. During his interrogation, Ansar confessed to the crime and gave up the names of his four associates. The police arrested three others on June 8, later arresting five others.
While the court on Thursday, acquitted Rafiqul Islam and Nur Ali due to lack of evidence, Gopal Naskar, another accused in the case, died in August 2015 while the trial was ongoing.