A Delhi court on Thursday reserved the order on quantum of sentence in the Danish woman gangrape case for Friday. While the arguments continued, the Delhi Police sought maximum punishment for the five convicts.
The prosecutor argued that the offence was committed with the foreigner in a “barbaric and inhuman manner” and “these convicts have caused a dent to the reputation of the country”. The five men had rape a 52-year-old Danish tourist at knife point near New Delhi Railway Station.
“The way the crime has been committed, it demands maximum punishment of imprisonment till remainder of life prescribed under the new law for the offence of gangrape. The crime was committed with a foreigner and a message should be sent to the society that rule of law prevails in India and wrong-doers would be dealt with an iron hand,” said Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava.
legal aid counsel Dinesh Sharma, who represented the convicts, sought leniency for them on the ground that they were aged in 20s and belonged to poor background, adding minimum sentence of 20 years would be enough for them.
Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar II, after hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence, reserved the order for Friday.
During the hearing, the five convicts were also present in the court.
The court, on June 6, had convicted Mahender alias Ganja (25), Mohd Raja (25), Raju (23), Arjun (21) and Raju Chakka (30) for the offences under Sections 376 (D) (gang rape), 395 (dacoity), 366(kidnapping), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of IPC.
The sixth accused, 56-year-old Shyam lal, died in February this year and proceedings against him were abated.
Three other accused in the case are juveniles and probe against them is in progress before the Juvenile Justice Board.