Ranchi: A Khunti court on Friday sentenced a Christian priest and five local youths for life imprisonment in the Kochang gang rape case involving five women artists of an NGO.
While the priest, Father Alphonse Aind, has been sentenced for conspiracy, three youths have been punished for gang rape and two for abetment.
As per,Superintendent of Police (SP), Ashwini Kumar, “A team of street play artists had gone to perform in a school in Kochan, the remotest area of Khunti, when some men came and threatened them. Nine men and women were abducted. Five women were raped while the men were beaten.”
It was reported on Friday, that the women were enacting a drama raising awareness of human trafficking in the Khunti district on Tuesday when armed men abducted them at gunpoint. Attackers video recorded the rape deed and used the video to blackmail the women not to go to the police.
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As per Police Officer, Rajesh Prasad, “The women were working for Asha Kiran, an NGO supported by Christian missionaries.” Police gathered up some supporters of Pathalgadi, a self-rule movement associated with hostility to outsiders. The National Women's Commission on Friday commanded state police to give them with a report about the gang rapes.
Sister Julia George, project director at Asha Kiran in Ranchi, told, “They put them in the same vehicle by which the Asha Kiran group were travelling and drove some kilometres away from the place. Then they were raped.”
Public Prosecutor Sushil Kumar Jaiswal, remarked that the court was very sure about Aind involvement in the conspiracy.
“Aind did not inform anyone, including police, even though he possessed a mobile phone, after the women were kidnapped. He also took no action when the victims were brought back after being raped. The evidences produced by us convinced the court of his involvement. The verdict would assure the rape survivors that rule of law exists in the country,” Sushil said.
The other convicts in the same case were sentenced under the sections of abatement of crime.