Once again, an incident has come to light from Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, for the safety of women. This incident happened when the incident of gang rape in RG Kar Medical College has not happened for a year. According to the police, three accused along with a law student in Kolkata carried out the gang rape incident. It is being told that the victim had rejected the proposal of marriage of an accused, after which she was forcibly taken to a deserted room in the college campus and tortured physically and mentally. In this case, one accused raped, while two of his companions were helped, but action will be taken against the three accused under gang rape.
What happened?
The 24 -year -old victim has alleged that the accused youth is an alumnus of South Kolkata Law College, along with two sitting students, on 25 June, the incident carried out the incident. The victim alleged that the accused forcefully took her to the room and raped her. According to the complaint lodged by the victim, she had rejected the wedding offer of one of the accused. After this, the accused forcibly took him to a deserted room in the college campus. There an accused took off her clothes and raped her. The victim protested, but two other criminals made a video of the incident and threatened her that if she said something to anyone, this video would be sent to her family and friends.
What does the law say?
The FIR has three sections 127 (2), 70 (1), and 3 (5) of the Indian Code of Justice (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita).
– Section 127 (2) – Under this section of the Indian Code of Justice, if someone stops or stops a person somewhere against his will, then it is a crime. For this, there can be a jail for up to a year or a fine of up to ₹ 5000 or both.
– Section 70 (1) – If more than one person gang -raping a woman or cooperates in it, everyone is equally accused of gangrape, even if only one person has physically raped.
– Section 3 (5) – If a crime has been carried out in a group and everyone’s intention was to cooperate in that crime, then every member is considered to be equally guilty of that crime.
All equal guilty
The law says that this intention in the case of gangrape is not necessary that the plan has been already planned. If everyone played an active role, threatened or made a video during the incident, then everyone would be considered as guilty.
What can be punished?
Under Section 70, the minimum punishment for gang rape is 20 years rigorous imprisonment, which can be increased to life imprisonment (life -long imprisonment), and can also be fined.
Due to these provisions, even though only one person has raped the victim in this case, the three have been accused of gang rape, keeping in mind that they did wrong things together, shared their intentions and played an active role in facilitating the crime.
What is the opinion of the court?
The Supreme Court has made it clear in its decisions many times that it is not necessary to rape every accused in gang rape cases. If everyone supported, supported or shared the intention, then all would be held equally guilty. The Supreme Court under the Ashok Kumar vs Haryana State (2003) under Section 376 (2) (G) of the Indian Penal Code said that if a person in a group has raped but the rest were also involved in that intention, then everyone could be accused of equally gang rape.
In Bhupinder Sharma vs Himachal Pradesh State (2003), the Supreme Court said that it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove that every accused has raped the victim in gang rape cases. The court clarified that the law consists of gang rape in a group working with the intention of rape. The court said that the purpose of this provision is to hold all the accused involved in this wrongdoing equally responsible for the evil like gangrape.
The Supreme Court of India once again admitted in Pradeep Kumar vs Union Administration, Chandigarh (2006) that the joint responsibility for gangrape is based on the principle that when a group works with the same intentions, all the members are responsible for the acts done by any member of the group. The court also clarified that it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove that every accused has actually raped. Rather it is shown that the group worked with the same intentions and the rape was done to pursue the same intention, so all the people involved are equally responsible.