Five individuals convicted of looting, assaulting, and abducting two army officers and their two female friends, along with gang-raping one of the women, were sentenced to life imprisonment in Madhya Pradesh on Monday.
The incident occurred at Jaam Gate, a picnic spot near Mhow Cantonment in Indore district, between 2 and 3 am on September 11, 2024.
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According to Special Public Prosecutor Sandhya Uikey of the Mhow Court, Fourth Additional Sessions Judge Ravishankar Dohre convicted the accused—Anil Barod (27), Pawan Wasuniya (23), Ritesh Bhabhar (25), Rohit Girwal (23), and Sachin Makwana (25)—and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The court also ordered the convicts to pay ₹50,000 to the rape survivor and ₹10,000 each to the other three victims.
Detailing the events of the night, the Public Prosecutor stated that two trainee officers from the Army’s Infantry School in Mhow had gone to visit the Jaam Gate area with two female friends.
Six men, armed with a pistol and sticks, attacked them, assaulting and threatening to kill them while demanding ₹10 lakh.
The assailants looted mobile phones and ₹8,000 in cash before sending one of the trainee officers and his female friend back to the Infantry School to arrange the demanded money.
Meanwhile, the rape survivor and the second trainee officer were held captive and taken to a nearby hill, where accused Ritesh and Anil gang-raped the woman while the other four restrained the officer.
Following the incident, the Army initiated an inquiry into the conduct of the two trainee officers.
Sources identified them as Lieutenant Pranit (23) and Lieutenant Kaushal Singh Pal (22), who were undergoing the Young Officers Course at the Infantry School in Mhow at the time.
The inquiry aims to investigate the gross indiscipline and violation of training rules, including why the officers were outside at such an hour. The outcome of the Army’s inquiry is yet to be disclosed.
