Hanskhali minor gang rape: 3 sent to life imprisonment by court in West Bengal

Ranaghat (WB)/New Delhi, Dec 23 (PTI) A court in West Bengal awarded life imprisonment on Tuesday to three of the nine convicts in the gang-rape case where the minor victim died of her injuries in 2022 at Hanskhali in Nadia district.

The additional district judge's (ADJ) court in Ranaghat sentenced Brajagopal Gayali, Prabhakar Poddar and Ranjit Mallick to life imprisonment after finding them guilty of raping the 14-year-old girl, hatching a criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

"Accused persons Akash Barai @ Tarak and Surojit Roy who had threatened the family members of the victim girl not to lodge the FIR and not to go outside for the medical treatment of the girl were convicted for offences of criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation and released on probation of good conduct," a spokesperson of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said in a statement issued in New Delhi.

The spokesperson of the federal agency said Samarendu Gayali, father of prime accused Brajagopal Gayali, and Pijush Kanti Bhakta, who had threatened the victim's family members not to lodge the FIR and were also involved in the destruction of evidence, have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years and fined.

Dipta Gayali has been sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment, the official said.

"Angsuman Bagchi who had forcefully cremated the dead body of the victim girl, resulting into destruction of evidence, was convicted for the offences of criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence and has been sentenced to RI for three years and fine," the statement said.

The Ranaghat court convicted the nine people on Monday in connection with the gang rape of the teenager, who died of her injuries in 2022 at Hanskhali in Nadia district of West Bengal.

The 14-year-old girl was gang-raped on April 4, 2022, during the birthday party of the son of a panchayat leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The girl fell ill and died the next day. Her body was cremated in haste, allegedly under pressure from the accused.

The incident had led to a public outcry and a political blame game between the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and opposition parties.

The CBI was entrusted with the probe in the case by the Calcutta High Court.

"This case was registered on April 13, 2022 at CBI, SCB, Kolkata under sections of IPC and POCSO Act in pursuance to order dated April 12, 2023 passed by Hon'ble High Court at Calcutta...," the spokesperson of the agency said.

Since the victim was a minor, the offence of gang rape of a minor under provisions of the IPC was later added, he said.

Lawyer Anindya Das had moved the high court seeking that the investigation be transferred from the state police to the CBI and citing concerns that the involvement of the son of a ruling party's leader could affect a free-and-fair probe. PTI COR BSM AMR ABS RC