Two youths were today sentenced to 20 years rigourous imprisonment by a court here for gang rape of a mentally-challenged minor girl in February last year.
Thane Special (POCSO) Judge A S Bhaisare also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 each on the duo.
The convicts 21-year-old Samin Ansari and 22-year-old Sonu Murmu hail from Jharkhand, while the main accused Isaque Ansari is still at large since the day of the crime.
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The prosecutor told the court that on February 1, 2016, the mentally-challenged girl, aged around 11 and resident of Shil-Padle gaon, was playing outside her house when the accused wooed her by giving her chocolate.
The trio took her to bushes near her house and raped her in turns.
The accused also made an attempt to strangulate her to death. But as they did not succeed in their attempt they abandoned her in the bushes and fled from the spot, the prosecution said in its argument.
The girl later returned home and with gestures narrated the horrifying incident to her parents after which the police complaint was lodged.
As many as 18 witnesses were examined in the case.
The court took serious note of the manner in which the child was subjected to inhuman torture by the trio. It termed the act was inhuman, terrible and brutal and observed that the atrocity needs to be condemned in strong words.
They were tried for offences punishable under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 376(d) (gang rape), 377 (unnatural sex) and 336 (act endangering life and personal safety of others) of the IPC and under relevant sections of the POCSO Act, 2012.
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