All five accused in the 2010 abduction and gang-rape of a 30-year-old call centre executive in the Dhaula Kuan area of the national capital were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Dwarka District Court on Monday.
The accused, namely Shamshad alias Khutkan, Usman alias Kale, Shahid alias Chhota Billi, Iqbal alias Bada Billi and Kamruddin, have been booked for the sectional offences of kidnapping (365), gang rape (376 (2g)), criminal intimidation (506) and sharing common intention (34) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
"Today, the final order has been passed. The judgment, for which we have been waiting, has been delivered after a long time. The court has sentenced all of the accused for the offence of rape to life imprisonment and asked them to also pay a fine of Rs. 50,000 for each," said the defence counsel.
"We welcome the judgment, but the doors are open to the high court. We will go to the high court, because we have to examine each angle - the medical point of view, the statement of the witness, the recovery point of view and the identification of the case property as well," he added.
The victim, who hailed from the North-East, was abducted and raped on November 24, 2010. Following the incident, the Delhi Police ordered all Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms in the national capital region to ensure that cars with security guards would drop all of their female employees after the ending of their respective shifts.