Bikaner: A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Rajasthan has sentenced the main accused in 5-year-old Dalit rape case to lifetime rigorous imprisonment while the other two accused have been sentenced to 6 years jail term. The court on Tuesday pronounced the judgment while hearing a 5-year-old rape case of a Dalit college student living in the hostel of a private B.Ed college in the Nokha police station area in Bikaner.
After hearing the years-old case, the court sentenced the main accused PTI Vijender Singh to life imprisonment. While the hostel warden Priya Shukla and her husband Prateek Shukla have been sentenced to 6 years each. Earlier the court had decided to pronounce the verdict on October 11, but it has pronounced the verdict today.
Police had recovered the body of a B.Ed second-year student from a water tank of a hostel at a private college in Nokha on March 29, 2016. Later the police registered the case and the rape was confirmed after the autopsy. Police presented the chargesheet before the court on June 25, 2016, 86 days after the incident. According to the report, the girl died by suicide by jumping into a water tank after being raped. A total of 85 appearances took place in the case and 34 witnesses recorded their statements. After the hearings, the court concluded that the student was abetted to commit suicide.
The then Congress National President, Rahul Gandhi had paid a visit to the victim's family which spot the light on the incident.
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