In a speedy delivery of justice that comes just a month after investigating officials filed a chargesheet in the case, a local court has sentenced to life imprisonment all the five men who had raped a German tourist in September last year.

“The accused have committed a heinous crime with a guest of the country. They treated her brutally and in an inhuman manner. She suffered more than two dozen injuries in the struggle,” Additional Sessions Judge R S Attri observed in his order.

“Keeping in view the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, I sentence all the accused to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 each under Section 376 (2)(g) of the Indian

Penal Code or in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months each,” he said.

The five accused are: Pankaj Kumar (26), Harpreet Singh (23), Sukhwinder Singh (24), Manvir Singh (24) and Sompal (21). They were convicted on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the defence pleaded that the court take a lenient view. But the judge announced the maximum possible punishment.

“She was not only a guest of the house where she was invited... being a tourist, (she) was the guest of the country. The accused have completely violated the Indian traditions of hospitality. She was an unmarried young girl of 20 years and visited India only once. She has not taken a good experience of her first visit. Rape is a serious crime, whether it is of a foreign lady tourist or any other woman. It leaves a question mark on the safety of foreign tourists in the City Beautiful — Chandigarh. It is likely to create panic among the tourists visiting Chandigarh and other parts of the country,” said the judge.

“She was not only abducted but kept secretly in three places, and ultimately was gangraped. Thus, the accused are not entitled to any leniency. Rather, they (must) be awarded exemplary sentence,” he added.

The victim had come to Chandigarh in September last year to attend an Indian friend’s wedding. She was abducted from outside Hotel Taj on the night of September 27 and taken to a farmhouse in Haryana, about 50 kilometres from the city, where she was raped.

Victim thanks Indian judiciary
The victim was informed of the verdict by her friend Hardeep Singh, on whose wedding she had come to India last year. “I thank the Indian judiciary for the speedy justice. Whatever crime they committed, they deserved such a punishment,” she said.