An Aizawl district court on Tuesday sentenced two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel to 42 years rigorous imprisonment for the gang-rape and acid attack on a woman in West Mizoram’s Mamit district by Additional District and Sessions Judge Sylvi J. of the Aizawl District Court.‘Muanpui Ralte announced severe punishment. On June 12, the court convicted Nilanjan Das, a resident of West Bengal, and Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, under several serious sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The court sentenced the two convicts to 20 years under Section 376D (gang rape) of the Indian Penal Code., He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment under Section 376(2)(M) (rape with grievous bodily harm) and 12 years under Section 326A (acid attack). All these punishments will be phased, The two accused will be jailed for a total of 42 years. In addition, Dr, They were fined Rs 60,000 each for each offense and the amount was not paid‘Le will serve an additional two months in jail for each offense.
According to court documents, The incident took place on July 16, the victim was his partner Rong‘B. went to the forest next to Gachkata river in Chilchurdi West village in search of crabs and wild vegetables. They encountered two soldiers of BSF’s 181st battalion deployed on the Mizoram-Bangladesh border. Two soldiers in charge of food supply took the woman to a nearby coconut plantation, sexually assaulted her and then poured noxious acid on her face. The attack left the woman with permanent facial disfigurement and permanent loss of vision in one eye.
Rangpur was the companion of the deceased at the time of the incident‘B moved some distance from the scene, but his body was found in the forest after several days on July 27. Postmortem and forensic reports‘It is proved that B. was killed. On July 18, 2017, a case under various sections including murder was registered at Marpara police station based on the complaint filed by the brother of the deceased. Police investigate the victim’s clothes and feet‘Forensic evidence was recovered from B’s body. The laboratory also detected residues of the acid used in the attack. The victim then clearly identified the two accused during an identification parade on September 5, 2017 in the presence of the Judicial Magistrate. Medical doctor throughout the trial, A total of 18 witnesses, including the investigating officer and locals, have been taken into custody.
The court convicted the two soldiers of the rape and acid attack based on consistent and credible statements of the victims as well as medical and scientific evidence.‘B. acquitted them from death penalty. The judge noted in his judgment that the prosecution failed to establish the necessary chain of environmental evidence to prove that the two accused committed the murder. They are therefore exempted from Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, But they will spend more than four decades in prison for the remaining serious crimes.