The Additional District Judge Court in Dehradun on Thursday sentenced former BJP leader Pramod Gupta to life imprisonment and co-accused Ashok Kumar to 10 years’ imprisonment for the gang-rape of a 22-year-old woman in a hotel on Rajpur Road in 2008. The court on Wednesday had acquitted hotel manager Praveen who was another accused in the case.
The father of the victim who was present in the court when the verdict was pronounced has expressed satisfaction over the verdict but said, “Though justice was done to my daughter, the fight is not yet over. The other three men accused in this case should also be punished.”
However, Pramod Gupta said, “I respect the court order but I am the victim of conspiracy by some non government organisations and other persons. I will move to the High Court against this verdict.”
The much awaited verdict on the gang-rape of a 22-year old woman in a hotel on Rajpur Road in April 2008 was delivered on Thursday. The court of ADJ Amit Kumar Sirohi held Gupta and Kumar guilty in this case.
The court sentenced Gupta under section 376 (2) (g) of IPC to life imprisonment and penalty of Rs 50, 000. The co-accused Ashok Kumar in this case was sentenced under section 120 b to 10 years imprisonment and Rs 2,000 fine.
In 2008, a female resident of Premnagar area had alleged that she was taken to a hotel in Rajpur on the pretext of being given a job in the Secretariat and raped by some persons including Gupta. The Congress, which was the main opposition party at the time had raised this issue vociferously.
The woman had alleged that Gupta and Kumar had planned the gang rape in which five men were involved. She had also alleged that Kumar had kept on promising her a job since then and even threatened many times.
A representative of NGO Samadhan said that apart from the victim, seven other rape survivors are also being assisted by the organisation. The victim of the 2008 gang rape could not attend hearing on Thursday due to health reasons but she had expressed satisfaction at this verdict while also demanding punishment for the other three persons allegedly involved in the gang rape. The NGO averred that police had made sketches of five accused persons after the incident but only two were sentenced.