A fast-track court of additional sessions judge Rajwinder Kaur, on Monday, sentenced two gangrape convicts to life imprisonment. Inderjit Singh and Charanjit Singh, both residents of Khanaura village, under Mehtiana police station had raped a 16-year-old girl of the same village in February 2012.
The victim had earlier named Inderjit, Charanjit and one unknown person in her statement. However, later she changed her statement and said that she had 'mistakenly' named Charanjit, and named Jaswant Ram instead. Subsequently, the police released Charanjit and included Jaswant and one Baljinder in the case.
Jaswant approached the Punjab and Haryana high court pleading not guilty, at which the court ordered the Hoshiarpur SSP to personally investigate the matter.
The SSP conducted an inquiry and found that both Jaswant and Baljinder were innocent and Charanjit was again arrested.
The defence counsel pleaded that the girl had an affair with Inderjit and on being exposed she had concocted the rape story, but the court rejected his plea. It held both Inderjit and Charanjit guilty under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC. Charanjit was also convicted under Section 34 (criminal conspiracy).
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convicts and on default, they would have to undergo imprisonment for an year.
{{/usCountry}}The court also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convicts and on default, they would have to undergo imprisonment for an year.
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