A Kolkata court on Tuesday, 7 November, sentenced one person to life for raping a 72-year-old nun from Ranaghat, West Bengal. Five others were given 10 years imprisonment for robbery, reported ANI.
The trial of Nazrul Islam and five others concluded on 30 October.
The senior nun was raped in the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat on 14 March 2015, after a group of men broke into the convent and later decamped with cash from the safe.
While six persons were arrested by the West Bengal CID, which probed the case, one of the accused was absconding.
The examination of witnesses and pleadings by lawyers representing the accused and the prosecution concluded before Additional District and Sessions Judge Kumkum Sinha.
Investigation of the case was handed to the CID by the state government soon after the incident. The trial was shifted from a court in Ranaghat to the Kolkata Sessions Court in May 2016 by the Calcutta High Court, on a petition by the nun.
After relocating to Delhi following the incident, she had sought transfer of the case to Kolkata stating that she feared for her safety, as the accused allegedly had strong links in Ranaghat, reported ANI.
The accused have been charged with and tried for gang-rape, dacoity, attempt to cause death or grievous hurt, and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means and criminal conspiracy.
The six accused are Milan Kumar Sarkar, Ohidul Islam, Mohd Selim Sheikh, Nazrul Islam, Khaledar Rahman, and Gopal Sarkar.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)