Two teens held guilty of raping 16-year-old in Chandigarh
The accused were 17-year-old when they committed the crime in September 2017.
A Chandigarh court on Tuesday held two teenagers guilty in a 2017 rape case involving a 16-year-old girl.
The crime took place in a village on the city’s periphery. While one of the accused allegedly raped the girl, the other is accused of helping him in “wrongfully confining” her. Both were 17 years of age when the crime took place on September 25, 2017.
The main accused belongs to Hamirpur in Himachal Pardesh while the co-accused lives in the same village as the girl.
The court of additional district and sessions judge will pronounce the quantum of sentence on August 22. Both have been sent to juvenile home.
It was on September 29, 2017, that the two were booked under Sections 376 (rape), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code besides Section 4 (penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
According to the FIR, the girl was returning from a friend’s birthday party on September 25, when the main accused waylaid her at knifepoint around 2am.
He then took her to a grocery shop situated in a residential area, where the other youth was present. The accused raped her before leaving her outside and fleeing while his friend closed the shop’s door from inside.
A day later, she informed her mother and the family approached police. As her father worked out of town, her statement was recorded once he returned on September 29 and a case was registered. Later, the duo was arrested.