Forensic experts collect finger prints from bottles found at the plot where the woman was allegedly gangraped at Issewal in Ludhiana in 2019. (Archive) It is a closure that they had been looking for, but it is not a closure that, in any way, has bought any happiness to the woman victim of the 2019 Issewal gangrape case and the male friend who had accompanied her on a drive on that fateful night of February 9, 2019.
“These three years were so long… that we are not feeling any emotions. All emotions have drained off. There’s nothing to be happy about (the verdict) but there’s a kind of relief that justice has been done,” says the man.
A local court in Ludhiana Friday awarded life term to Jagroop Singh alias Roopi of Ludhiana, Sadiq Ali of Nawanshahr, Saif Ali of Himachal Pradesh, Ajay of Uttar Pradesh, Surmu of Ludhiana and Liakal Ali of Kathua (Jammu & Kashmir) for allegedly abducting the 20-year-old woman and her male friend and then gangraping the woman. A sixth accused Liakat Ali, who was then a juvenile (aged 17) but faced trial as an adult, has been awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
The woman’s friend, speaking to The Indian Express, said, “Past three years have been too long… assi din raat ikk karta (we kept fighting for justice). The main accused Jagroop Singh was even granted bail by the High Court and he kept threatening us openly in the court. He used to say ‘main tainu dekh launga… but we still kept fighting for justice. There’s nothing to be happy about (the verdict) because what happened was a nightmare for us. But yes, I am feeling relieved that justice has prevailed. Truth has won. Life just changed after that night” The case On February 9, 2019, at around 8.30 pm, the woman and her friend were on their way back from Sarabha Nagar market of Ludhiana when they were waylaid near village Issewal on South City.
As per her statement, the accused who were initially three in number, on a motorbike, intercepted their car by throwing a brick on the windshield. As the vehicle stopped, they started thrashing her friend and demanded Rs 1 lakh. When told that they didn’t have that much money, the accused forced her male friend to call someone who can bring money. Then they also called other accomplices on the spot. The woman alleged that she was dragged out of the car, taken to a secluded plot near the spot where all six of them raped her.
The other friend, who was called to bring money, kept one accused engaged on the phone and went to the police at around 11pm. However, he was not given any help for at least an hour. Later, he along with an ASI tried to locate the spot but failed. Around 2 am, when no one reached with money, the accused started fleeing from the spot. An ASI was dismissed and two other police personnel suspended by Ludhiana Rural SSP for dereliction of duty that night.
The challenge Police had booked the accused under sections 376D (gangrape), 341 (wrongful restraint), 427 (mischief causing damage to amount of rupees fifty or more), 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (causing hurt), 354 (outraging woman’s modesty), 354B (assault or criminal force with intent to disrobe), 395 (dacoity), 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of IPC and 66E of the Information Technology Act, in an FIR registered at Mullanpur Dakha police station.
However, initially all the accused were unidentified and establishing their identities was a challenge. Probe by Ludhiana rural police also found that earlier also they had waylaid other women and committed multiple rapes in the past but no victim had gathered the courage to file a complaint against them.
Special public prosecutor BD Gupta said that the scientific probe including DNA tests of the woman and the accused and forensic tests of the voice samples of the accused helped in taking the case to its logical conclusion. He added that they had moved an application to make the juvenile accused face trial as an adult and even after the court granted it, there were two separate trials that ran parallel in the same court— one of the five adult accused and another of the juvenile. “We never wanted that the juvenile accused be given any leniency. We moved an application which was put up before Juvenile Justice Board and subsequently before the court. It was approved and Liakat Ali was tried as an adult. We had to go through two sets of trials— double recording of statements, double cross examinations etc but it paid off as now he has been sentenced 20 years in jail,” said Gupta.
He added that the main challenge was to establish the identity of the accused. “After preparing sketches as per details given by the woman, the accused were arrested and then identified by her in a parade. Then the voice samples of the accused from the ransom calls they made, were sent for forensic testing. Then the DNA samples of the woman and all six accused also matched, establishing she was gangraped,” said Gupta.
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