9 years after NH-91 horror, UP court convicts 5 in mother-daughter gangrape, sentencing tomorrow | India News

MEERUT/BULANDSHAHR: Nine years after the horrific gang rape of a woman and her young daughter on a stretch of National Highway-91 in Uttar Pradesh as male members of the family, tied and assaulted by robbers, begged and cried for mercy, a special Pocso court in Bulandshahr convicted five men for the gruesome crime on Saturday. The assault had not just shocked the nation, but also forced the then-state govt to tweak road rules, even posting ‘snipers’ on trees to curb crimes along the key stretch. Sentencing of the five convicts is scheduled to be done on Monday. The incident happened on July 29, 2016, when the family’s vehicle was intercepted near a village, while they were travelling to Shahjahanpur from Noida. The gang held the entire family hostage at gunpoint and assaulted the mother-daughter after dragging them to a nearby field.Despite the crime scene’s proximity to a local police station, the cops there failed to respond on time. The family reported that initial calls to emergency services went unanswered, and the investigation only gained momentum after the father contacted a personal acquaintance in the Noida police department.Providing details, additional district govt counsel (ADGC) Varun Kaushik, said, “Forensic evidence, including semen traces matching the convicts, played a crucial role.” “The court convicted Zuber alias Parvez (35), Mohd Sajid (37) both from Kannauj, and Dharamveer Singh (36), Sunil Kumar (35), Naresh Kumar (46), from Farrukhabad district. Saleem Bawaria (45) – the gang’s kingpin – died during the court trial in Dec 2019,” he added. The ADGC added that “all the convicts were unable to secure bail and remained in jail since the incident.” “Their bail was even rejected by the Supreme Court,” he said. An FIR was registered on the afternoon of July 30, that year, under sections 394, 395, 397 (aggravated forms of robbery and dacoity), 376-D (gangrape), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, and 5/6 of the Pocso Act. “The next day, police arrested Mohd Riyazuddin, Mohd Shahwez and Jabar Singh from Haryana. They were, however, later given clean chit by CBI and let-off,” Kaushik said. The gravity of the incident led to a CBI probe ordered by the Allahabad high court and resulted in the suspension of several high-ranking police officers for “negligence”.Notably, the apex court also reprimanded then-UP cabinet minister Azam Khan for calling the incident a “political conspiracy by the Opposition”. Khan later tendered an apology in court. TOI’s extensive coverage at that time exposed the vulnerability of the travellers on desolate stretches of the UP highways, some of them without adequate road lights.Twenty-five witnesses provided testimony during the trial. Of the 11 individuals implicated, the legal outcomes varied – two suspects died in police encounters, one passed away in custody due to illness and three were acquitted for lack of evidence. Saturday’s conviction by additional district and sessions judge-III, Omprakash Verma, concluded the lengthy legal process.