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5 Convicted in Gang-Rape Case That Shocked Mumbai 5 Indian Men Are Convicted in Gang Rapes at Abandoned Mill in Mumbai
(about 17 hours later)
MUMBAI, India — A court in Mumbai on Thursday found five men guilty of gang-raping a photojournalist and a call-center operator in an abandoned mill building last year, a case that shook a city that has long prided itself on its relatively progressive, cosmopolitan atmosphere. MUMBAI, India — A court in Mumbai found five men guilty on Thursday on charges related to the gang rapes of a photojournalist and a call-center operator in an abandoned mill building last year. The case has shaken a city that has long prided itself on being relatively progressive and cosmopolitan.
Three men who habitually gathered in the mill building — Mohammed Kasim Sheikh, Vijay Jadhav and Salim Ansari — were all convicted of both crimes. A fourth man, Siraj Rehman Khan, was found guilty of participating in the case involving the journalist, and a fifth, Mohammed Ashwaq Sheikh, of participating in the rape of the call-center operator. A sixth man accused in the photojournalist’s rape was under 18 at the time of the crime and is being tried separately in a juvenile court. Three men who habitually gathered in the mill were convicted in connection with both crimes; two other men were each convicted in connection with one of the rapes. A sixth defendant in the case was under 18 at the time and is being prosecuted in a juvenile court.
Sentences, which could range from 20 years to life in prison, are expected to be handed down Friday, said the judge in the case, Shalini Phansalkar Joshi. The trial judge, Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, said he expected sentences for the five men to be handed down on Friday. The men face possible prison terms of 20 years to life.
The Mumbai case testified to the ripple effect of the fatal 2012 gang-rape of a physiotherapy student on a moving bus in New Delhi. A wave of protests followed that victim’s death, setting in motion remarkable changes in India. Reports of rape and sexual assault skyrocketed, suggesting a greater willingness to speak out about such crimes; Parliament created a fast-track court for rape cases and introduced new laws making especially brutal rapes punishable by death. The reported incidence of rape in India is low by the standards of many Western countries, including the United States, but underreporting likely skews those figures. The Mumbai case illustrated the continuing effects of another gang-rape case, in which a physiotherapy student was fatally assaulted on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012. The wave of protests that followed her death set in motion some remarkable changes in India: Reports of rape and sexual assault skyrocketed, suggesting a greater willingness to speak out about such crimes, and Parliament toughened laws and created a special court to hear rape cases much more swiftly than the country’s sclerotic regular justice system.
The photojournalist’s case was of a kind that, in earlier years, could easily have gone unreported. Testimony included in police reports suggested that the defendants acted with little fear of police action, summoning friends to the mill building by phone using a code phrase — “the prey has arrived” — and then releasing their battered victim with a warning that if she reported the crime, they would publish photographs taken during the assault. The case of the photojournalist at the mill in Mumbai was of a kind that in earlier years might well have gone unreported. Testimony in police reports suggested that the defendants had repeatedly assaulted women who wandered into the abandoned property, and showed no apparent concern about interference from the police.
But the photojournalist, who cannot be identified according to Indian law, went straight to the hospital and reported the crime. The police initiated a broad, high-level response, arresting five men in quick succession and recording their confessions. The state assigned a public prosecutor known for bringing cases against terrorists, who prided himself on his record of 628 life sentences, 30 death sentences and 12 men, as he put it, “sent to the gallows.” The police said the men confessed to five assaults in the same spot. In his closing arguments, the prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, described the rapes as systematic.
Recognizing the accused as the men who had assaulted her, the call-center employee came forward with her own report, and told the authorities she was ready to testify. “They did it in such a disciplined and planned manner, as if it was decided much before what to do if a girl is found in a secluded area,” Mr. Nikam said.
The four men in the photojournalist’s case were convicted of criminal conspiracy, forcibly performing sexual intercourse, unnatural sex, compelling the victim to imitate pornographic video clips, disrobing, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, damaging reputation, destroying evidence and gang rape. In the call-center worker’s case, the defendants were found guilty of criminal conspiracy, forcibly performing sexual intercourse, disrobing, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, gang rape, damaging reputation and destroying evidence. He added that Indian society tends to punish rape victims for coming forward.
“In our society, if an atrocity is committed on a woman, the common man casts doubt on the lady. They say, ‘Oh, she must be that type,’ ” he said. “This is the first reaction. This is the story of our culture.”
The region’s top law enforcement officer, Raosaheb R. Patil, who entered the courtroom flanked by a half-dozen men in safari suits, said that the case of the rapes at the mill was Mumbai’s equivalent of the bus case in New Delhi, and that Mumbai had responded forcefully.
“The judgment was delivered in record time,” Mr. Patil said. “Mumbai prides itself in being a city safe for women, and now we welcome the verdict.”
The five men convicted on Thursday — Mohammed Kasim Sheikh, Vijay Jadhav, Salim Ansari, Siraj Rehman Khan and Mohammed Ashfaq Sheikh — were part of a loose group of friends from poor neighborhoods, unemployed or underemployed, who passed the time in the abandoned mill building.
Police reports described one defendant summoning his friends by phone using a code phrase — “the prey has arrived.” According to the charge sheet, they released their battered victim with a warning that if she reported the crime, they would publish photographs taken during the assault.
But the photojournalist, who under Indian law cannot be identified in news accounts, disregarded the warning, went straight to a hospital and reported the crime. The police arrested five men in quick succession and recorded their confessions in the case; they said the men admitted committing five assaults in the same spot.
The state assigned the case to Mr. Nikam, a public prosecutor known for bringing cases against terrorists, and who prides himself on having obtained 628 life sentences and 30 death sentences in his career.
The call-center employee recognized the men in news accounts of the case and came forward with her own report, saying she was prepared to testify.
R. G. Gadgil, the defense lawyer for Mohammad Kasim Sheikh, said he asked the court on Wednesday to re-examine clinical analysis and DNA reports used as evidence in the case, but the judge dismissed the plea.
“My client and I are both stunned” by the verdict, Mr. Gadgil said. “Based on the evidence, there was good reason to believe we were headed for an acquittal.”
Outside the courtroom, the wife of Salim Ansari, who is in his late 20s and has two young children, reached into a cloth bag and produced a small metal box containing rice and meat. Mr. Ansari’s son Saadiq, 10, threw himself at his father’s legs, pummeling and biting him, while Shaafiq, 6, scraped bits of plaster from the wall with a finger.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Mr. Ansari told his wife, taking a liter bottle of a mango drink that she had brought. “Our family is your responsibility.”
Vijay Jadhav, another of the defendants, sat on a wooden bench at the back of the courtroom and wept into a handkerchief because no one from his family had come to see him. A police officer, who guarded him, advised him to be patient.
“There is no one to see if I’m dead or alive,” Mr. Jadhav said.