Gangrape barbaric, heinous: Gujarat HC

Rejects appeals of five given life sentence in Bijal Joshi gangrape case of 2003

Setting an example, the Gujarat High Court on Thursday rejected appeals of five convicted in the infamous Bijal Joshi gangrape case of 2003, terming their act as 'barbaric' and 'heinous'.

The high court upheld the sentence of life imprisonment conferred by the trial court in June 2008 on the five accused namely Sajal Jain, Sugam Jaiswal, Chandan Jaiswal, Ashok Jaiswal alias Mandan and Dharmendra Jain. The accused had approached the High Court in October 2008 against the trial court verdict.

A division bench of Justice Jayant Patel and Justice Mohinder Pal while rejecting the appeals of the convicts observed that the accused had destroyed the identity and dignity of the the victim, who later committed suicide. They were of the prima facie opinion that sexual intercourse was committed by force and that too in barbaric and heinous manner.

The Court also gave two weeks time for all the five accused to surrender before the police as they were out on bail since October this year. It also rejected the appeal of the state government against the acquittal of seven persons allegedly involved in the case.

In June 2008, Sajal Jain and four others were found guilty by a trial court on charges of gangrape, torture, administering stupefying or intoxicating substance with intent to cause hurt and wrongful confinement.

According to case details, the victim 24-year-old Bijal Joshi, belonging to a middle class family was lured into Ahmedabad's Ashoka hotel on the night of December 31, 2003 by her rich boyfriend Sajal Jain. She was allegedly gangraped by six people, who stubbed cigarettes on her body and beat up her badly. Later Bijal committed suicide by hanging herself in her room on January 7, 2004. In her suicide note Bijal had accused Sajal and other for driving her to suicide.

The case had shocked Ahmedabad because of the gruesome manner in which Bijal was gang-raped by Sajal and his friends during a New Year 's Eve party in 2003 which had later led to the victim committing suicide. Sajal, son of a Delhi-based businessman, was married in 2003 and having an extramarital affair with Bijal.