Andhra: Six get life for 2019 gangrape

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, August 24

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Six accused of gangrape were on Tuesday awarded life sentences by a Hyderabad court. The LB Nagar Sessions Court pronounced all six guilty for raping a woman on January 19, 2019, near Hafeezpet Railway Station.

The seventh accused in the case was a juvenile at the time of the crime, and a case against him is still pending in the Juvenile Court at LB Nagar. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on each of the convicted men.

Those convicted have been identified as Shaik Showkath, 35, Mohd Khalid, 22, Mohd Afroz, 20, Abdul Salman Khan, 20, Shaik Salman, 22, and Mujahid Khan, 20. They are all residents of New Hafeezpet, Serilingampally Mandal, Ranga Reddy district.

As per the case of the prosecution, the accused pounced on the woman when she was moving in a secluded place after relieving herself, the man accompanying her tried to stop the accused. Still, they thrashed him and sexually assaulted the victim. Subsequently, a complaint was lodged with the Miyapur police.

In another unrelated case of sexual assault on a woman, a 25-year-old B Kalyan was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was also awarded a Rs 5,000 fine. He was sentenced for attempting to sexually assault a 21-year-old woman on May 25, 2020, who was staying as a tenant in B Kalyan’s house.

A case was registered in the Neredmet police station for sexual assault and physical assault on the woman when she tried to alert others and threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone.