AHMEDABAD: A POCSO court in Vadodara has sentenced all five convicts in the Bhayali gangrape case to life imprisonment in a landmark verdict. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each convict and ordered Rs 10 lakh compensation for the minor survivor.
According to Special Public Prosecutor Nayan Sukhdwala, this is the first case in Vadodara in which five accused have been awarded life imprisonment together.
The case dates back to October 4, 2024, during the Navratri festival, when a 16-year-old girl had gone to play Garba with her friend. The two later went to a deserted area in Bhayali, where five men allegedly arrived on two motorcycles.
The prosecution said the accused took the keys of the girls' two-wheeler and threatened them. While two accused allegedly fled after the survivor raised an alarm, the remaining three restrained her friend and gang-raped the minor.
After the assault, the survivor and her friend reached a police station about two kilometres away and lodged a complaint.
The prosecution said the accused also robbed the survivor's mobile phone and threw it into the Vishwamitri river to destroy evidence. Fire brigade personnel later recovered the phone, and their testimonies, along with medical evidence and other circumstantial evidence, were presented before the court.
“Every link in the chain of circumstances was properly connected before the court,” Sukhdwala said.
The court found the prosecution evidence sufficient and convicted all five accused before awarding life imprisonment. The prosecutor said the court followed the Supreme Court's guidelines in the Ishan Kumar case while deciding the sentence.