Six found guilty of gang rape, murder in Kolkata

Kolkata sessions court, held six of the eight in the 2013 brutal Kamduni rape and murder case guilty on Thursday.

Relatives of the woman brutally gang-raped and murdered in Kamduni are furious after the court found six accused guilty of the gruesome incident, and acquitted two others.

Saiful Ali, who had accosted the girl on the road and forced her inside a farmhouse where the crime was committed, was additionally found guilty under sections 109 (abetment to an offence) and 342 (wrongfully confining any person). Sensing the sensitivity of the case, the Mamata Banerjee government handed it over to the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which named nine people in its charge sheet.

Rafiqul Islam and Nur Ali were acquitted, while the ninth accused Gopal Naskar died while the trial was on.

The quantum of punishment, to be announced on Friday, can be at least 20 years in prison or even capital punishment or life imprisonment, after the amendment in the law following New Delhi’s Nirbhaya case. Various organisations have started agitation inside the court complex on the eve of the judgement, demanding capital punishment for the accused.

Victim’s brother told IBNS, “One accused threatened me today and two others have been acquitted”.

Demanding justice and exemplary punishment for the culprits, the Kamduni residents began their protest from the morning of June 8 in 2013 and the Kamduni Pratibadi Mancha (KPM) was formed which strengthened the protest movement later. But the trial was shifted to the city sessions court due to frequent protests by the villagers at the Barasat court.

Three other accused – Sheikh Emanul Islam, Aminur Islam and Bhola Naskar – were pronounced guilty of gang rape, criminal conspiracy and causing disappearance of evidence.

“We are happy as justice has been delivered after such a long fight”.

CPM MP Mohammed Salim put the blame on the investigating officers, alleging proper evidence against the two accused could not be produced.

Hailing the verdict, senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Food Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick said the conviction itself proves that the police and administration worked impartially. “Who are not satisfied with this judgment, can move to higher court”. They demanded harshest punishment for the accused.