Nikam bats for increasing the quantum of punishment against rape accused

Special Public Prosecutor advocate Ujjwal Nikam, who represented victims in both of the rape cases, welcomed the court's verdict, and also called for enhancing the quantum of punishment for the guilty.

He also announced, that the juvenile involved in the rape case will also be tried and the matter will be taken up soon.

"Today, the court has held four accused as guilty for committing gang rape on Telephone Operator on 31st July as well as on a photojournalist on August 22nd. We have examined in all 75 witnesses in both the cases. In both the rape cases three accused are common," Nikam said.

"Today, we have pointed out to the court that the matter kindly be adjourned till tomorrow. So that accused submission of points for sentence and at the same time the prosecution always can produce some evidence for the enhancement of the sentence," Nikam added.

Nikam also briefed the media outside the court telling them that a juvenile involved in the rape case will also be tried.

"Juvenile accused are being tried separately. Once the sentences are pronounced then the juvenile case will be taken up," the public prosecutor in this case said.

A court in Mumbai has found four accused in Mumbai's Shakti Mills gang rape case as guilty for raping two women in the desolate compound.

It may be recalled that the accused outraged the modesty of a 22-year-old photo-journalist, interning for a lifestyle magazine in August last year. At least three of the five men assaulted the victim at an abandoned mill close to the railway tracks in the Mahalaxmi area of Mumbai.

The five accused in the Shakti Mills gang rape of a 23-year-old photojournalist on August 22 are Salim Ansari, Vijay Jadhav, Chand Babu Sattar Shaikh, Mohammed Kasim Hafiz Shaikh alias Kasim Bengali and Siraj Rehman Khan.

Days after their arrest, a telephone operator came forward revealing that three of the accused had also gang-raped her on July 31. A 362-page charge sheet was filed against four of the accused in October. The accused, all unemployed young men, lived at a nearby slum.