Mumbai: 20 years in jail for 4 men who raped widow

Mumbai: A Mumbai court has sentenced four persons to 20 years in jail for raping a 30-year-old widow in suburban Mankhurd area after holding that the offences were “serious in nature”.

“Sexual violence is a grave public health concern, which has both short and long term impact on the physical and mental health of individuals,” the court said, adding that lack of power and low status makes a woman more vulnerable to sexual offences.

Sessions Judge SJ Gharat passed the order against Pranay Ingale, 24, Amol Izhak, 23, Sandip Shivaji Kamble, 24 and Ajay Kamble, 24 on May 25, the details of which were made available on Saturday.

As per the prosecution, the 30-year-old widow, having the responsibility of three minor children, was raped by the accused while she was returning home after watching Lavni held in the locality.

The court, in its order, held that the mitigating circumstances pleaded by the accused are of young age and dependency of their family.

“However, for the offence of rape and especially of gangrape, the young age of the accused only cannot be a mitigating circumstance at all. The court has to ensure the punishment is commensurate with the gravity of offence,” Judge Gharat said.

The court said the minimum punishment prescribed for the offence was 20 years, which may extend to life imprisonment.