Shakti Mills case: 3 repeat offenders held guilty under section 376(e), may face death

A court on Thursday found the three convicts, common to two gang-rape cases at the Shakti Mills compound in central Mumbai, guilty as repeat sexual offenders under section 376(e) of the Indian Penal Code that carries death as the maximum punishment.

Mohammad Qasim Shaikh alias Bangali, 21, Mohammad Salim Ansari, 28, and Vijay Jadhav, 19, were found guilty under the section in the gang-rape of a 22-year-old photojournalist.

This is the first conviction under the new section of 376(e) of IPC.

The court had last month found Vijay Jadhav, Mohammad Qasim Shaikh and Mohammad Salim Ansari, 28 guilty in both the gang-rape cases.

In addition to the trio, the court found Siraj Khan guilty in the photojournalist gang-rape case on August 22, and Mohammad Ashfaque Shaikh, 26, guilty of the telephone operator gang-rape case at the same compound on July 31 last year. Two minors, one in each case, are being tried under the Juvenile Justice Act separately.

The first case pertains to the gang-rape the photojournalist who had gone to the deserted Shakti Mills compound with a male colleague on an assignment on August 22, 2013.

The other case is of an 18-year-old telephone operator who was allegedly gang-raped by five persons (including three of the accused in the first case) on the same premises on July 31 last year.

Originally Source : Hindustan Times click here