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Five convicted in 2016 gangrape case in UP’s Bulandshahr
A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012, court in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district on Saturday convicted five accused for gang-raping a woman and her 14-year-old daughter during a highway robbery there in 2016
A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012, court in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district on Saturday convicted five accused for gang-raping a woman and her 14-year-old daughter during a highway robbery there in 2016.
Special Pocso judge OP Verma, after reviewing statements from witnesses on both sides and evidentiary material, declared the five survivors of the original six accused as guilty. The court has scheduled December 22 for pronouncing the quantum of sentence.
The case, which drew nationwide outrage, involved members of the notorious Bawariya gang. Originally, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed chargesheets against six accused. However, one died in Bulandshahr district jail due to illness around four years ago.
Additional district government counsel (ADGC) Varun Kaushik, Sunil Sharma and CBI advocate Amit Chaudhary detailed the prosecution’s case. On the night of July 28, 2016, a family of six from Noida heading to their ancestral village in Shahjahanpur was targeted near Dostpur flyover in the Dehat Kotwali area on the national highway-91.
Unknown assailants stopped their car by hurling an iron object at it. The gang then took the victims hostage including a teenage girl, her father, mother, aunt, uncle, and a male cousin. They then outraged the modesty of the girl and her mother before fleeing after looting the hostages.
The incident highlighted serious negligence by local police, leading to governmental action against 17 personnel. Initially, police arrested three individuals, but they were later found innocent. Public outcry and intervention by the Allahabad high court transferred the probe to the CBI.
CBI’s investigation identified accused from the Bawariya gang, including Jubair alias Sunil alias Parvez, Salim alias Beena alias Diwanji, and Sajid (residents of village Itkhari Binaura, Tirwa police station, Kannauj district).
Victim identification parades confirmed their involvement, with charges framed on July 27, 2018. Of the six charged—Jubair, Salim, Sajid, Dharmveer, Naresh, and Sunil have been convicted while one Salim passed away in jail during the trial.
