Priest, 5 others convicted in gang rape case

A court in Khunti on Tuesday convicted Father Alphonse Aind, who ran a missionary school, and five others in the 2018 Kochang gang rape incident.

The incident hit the national headlines on June 19, 2018, when five anti-human trafficking activists, working with an NGO supported by the Christian missionary, were abducted by armed men from RC Mission School in Khunti’s Kochang block, taken to a nearby forested area and raped.

The abductors also video-graphed the act and forced the victims to drink urine. The girls were released after three hours.

The court has fixed May 8 as date to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence, which would be pronounced on May 15.

According to the police, besides Fr Aind, the six perpetrators, one of them juvenile, were members of the banned rebel outfit People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) and Pathalgarhi leaders.

Fr Aind of the RC Mission School, from where the women were abducted, was accused of hatching conspiracy and not reporting/informing the police about girls’ abduction and subsequent rape.

The police had submitted charge sheet in September last year and trial commenced on October 24 the same year.