Alwar's special court likely to pronounce verdict in 2019 gang-rape case today

Alwar, Oct 06: A special court for SC/ST cases is likely to pronounce the judgment in the Thanagazi gang-rape case in Rajasthan's Alwar on Tuesday. In April 2019, a 19-year-old Dalit woman was gang raped by five men in front of her husband in Thanagazi in Alwar.

The Rajasthan government drew criticism from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bahuajan Samaj Party chief Mayawati during the Lok Sabha election campaign for the delay in lodging an FIR in the case and not taking action until the purported video of the sexual assault began circulating on social media.

According to the FIR lodged on May 2, 2019, four men and a juvenile took turns to rape the woman near Duhar Chaugan between Thanagazi and Talvrikash for three hours after beating her husband while another man filmed the assault.

The accused demanded Rs 10,000 from the victim for not putting the video of the gang-rape on social media. The FIR was registered on the day the video of the ghastly crime went viral on social media.

Police filed the charge sheet against the accused on May 18, 2019, 16 days after the FIR.

Chhote Lal, Hansraj Gurjar, Ashok Kumar Gurjar and Indraj Singh Gurjar were charged under sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 327 (Voluntarily causing hurt to extort property, or to constrain to an illegal act), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354B (outraging the modesty of a woman), 365 (Kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person), 376D (gang rape), 384 (extortion), 395 (dacoity) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Police also invoked different sections of the SC/ST Act and the IT Act in the FIR.

The fifth accused Mukesh Gurjar, 28, was charged under different sections of the IT Act for circulating the video. The prosecution produced 32 witnesses. The trial of the minor is currently on in the district and sessions court.