Where are women safe? As these four cases after December 16, 2012, show that be it her peers in a university or a tourist asking for direction, to a woman travelling in a cab, stories of sexual harassment abound:
Uber rape case
A 27-year-old woman returning home in an Uber cab in Delhi was raped by the driver after she dozed off in the backseat.
The accused, Shiv Kumar Yadav, was caught from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. Investigation revealed that the accused had obtained a fake character certificate for his job at Uber.
A long-drawn trial ensued that saw the intervention of the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court before Yadav was convicted on October 20, 2015.
Uber was also banned briefly in the National Capital
In September 2018, Delhi High Court upholds life sentence to Yadav by the trial court
Reported: December 2014
Current Status: Life sentence
Jindal university case
A female student from the management branch of the OP Jindal Global University in Sonepat accused three seniors of blackmailing and gang-raping her for two years
The main accused, Hardik Sikri, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison along with his friend Karan Chabra, while another friend, Vikas Garg, was sentenced to prison for seven years in June 2017 by a trial court
In a controversial decision, the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted all three convicts bail in September of that year. In its judgment, the two-member bench of Justice Mahesh Grover and Justice Raj Shekhar Attri, said “balance the concerns of the victim, demands of society and law and the element of reformatory and rehabilitative justice”.
In November 2017, the Supreme Court stayed the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s judgment granting bail.
This case was a rare instance where electronic evidence in the form of chat transcripts from WhatsApp between the survivor and Sikri were used by the trial court to nail the conviction
Reported: August 2013
Current Status: Convicts remain imprisoned
Danish woman gang-raped
Five men — Mahender alias Ganja, Mohammed Raja, Raju Bhajje, Arjun and Raju Chhaka — robbed and gang-raped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014, after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers’ Club near New Delhi Railway Station.
The Danish woman, travelling alone, had come to Delhi after visiting the Taj Mahal. She had approached a group of men for directions.
There were a total of nine accused, including three juveniles, in the case, who were charged with gang-raping the woman. One of the adult accused died during the trial.
In June 2016, trial court convicted them for gang rape, dacoity, kidnapping, wrongful confinement and intimidation.
In April 2018, Delhi High Court upheld the trial court’s verdict.
Reported: January 2014
Current Status: Life sentence
Farooqui case
A US-based research scholar accused Peepli Live co-director Mahmood Farooqui of raping her at his residence on March 28, 2015
Farooqui arrested in June 2015
Trial started in 2015 and the survivor says in her testimony that she had informed a friend of the rape via a message on WhatsApp just after it occurred and then she left Farooqui’s home in a taxi
Call details and chat transcripts between Farooqui and the survivor are further examined
Danish Hussain, Farooqui’s associate and a common acquaintance for both, testified in October saying the survivor had informed him about the incident
Farooqui denies all allegations
In January 2016, the survivor says in final arguments that she did not resist rape because she was scared Farooqui would kill her
In July, Farooqui was found guilty and was convicted to seven years in prison in August
He appealed against the decision the following month in the Delhi High Court
September: In a controversial order, Delhi HC acquitted Farooqui of rape charges
Reported: March 2015
Current Status: Delhi HC acquits accused
