Two army men from Rajasthan Rifles, who were convicted of raping a 19-year-old girl near a military camp in Sangvi in 2010, were sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the Shivajinagar Sessions Court yesterday.
Additional Sessions Judge VK Shewale also imposed a penalty of Rs 20,000 each on the convicts — Samunder Singh Mahipal Singh (30), a native of Rajasthan, and Rajnishkumar Sureshchandra Kumar (25), who hails from UP. At the time of incident, they were posted in Pune.
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The incident took place between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm on April 7, 2010 at the open army plot near Pimple Saudagar in Sangvi. The victim, then 19, and her 24-year-old boyfriend were chatting on the bridge near Swaraj Garden Hotel in the area the latter’s bike had run out of petrol. At this time the two jawans accosted them ‘for trespassing in army territory’.
The offenders took them to the open plot and then assaulted the man till he fell unconscious. They then took turns to rape the girl by threatening her with a knife, also asked her for her bank account number, took her cellphone and called their own phones with it, and then disappeared from the spot.
In her complaint, the girl had stated that when her boyfriend regained consciousness, they dragged the bike to a nearby petrol pump and then he dropped her home.
She also said that the one of the army men had called her at night, offered Rs 40,000, and also threatened her of dire consequences if she approached the police. The following morning, she lodged a complaint with Sangvi police station and then the two offenders were arrested. They denied the rape charges, but were held guilty during the course of the trial.
Additional public prosecutor Laxman Maindad examined nine witnesses to prove the culpability of the army men. Police inspector BS Sonawane and API Digambar Jadhav investigated the case.
Rs 20K Financial penalty imposed on each of the convicts apart from the prison sentenceu00a0
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