22 Aug : Two suspended members of elite President’s Body Guards (PBG) were awarded rigorous life imprisonment by a Delhi court in connection with the gang rape of a 17-year-old Delhi University student in 2003.
Harpreet Singh and Satyender Singh, who were held guilty on the charge of gang rape, were awarded the maximum punishment of life imprisonment by Additional Sessions Judge S K Sarvaria on Saturday.
The other two members of the prestigious guards Kuldeep Singh and Manish Kumar, who were absolved of the charge of gang rape but convicted for robbery, kidnapping and helping their colleagues in ravishing the girl, were sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
The crime was committed when the Delhi University student, along with her boyfriend Ashish, had gone to Buddha Jayanti Park in the backyard of the Presidential Palace complex on 6th October 2003, to watch a programme of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.
She was detained and robbed by the four convicts before being raped by Harpreet and Satyender while the other two kept watch.
The pronouncement of the punishment came five days after the four bodyguards were found guilty.
The court had earlier on 17th August convicted the four accused in the case which came to be known as Buddha Jayanti gangrape case.
All the four convicts have been in judicial custody since their arrest in 2003.
The prosecution had examined 25 witnesses, including the victim and her friend, to establish its case.
According to the prosecution, the convicts had first roughed up the victim’s friend and then took her to a secluded place inside the park and robbed her. Two of the convicts had raped her.
