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Journalism of Courage
A sessions court has sentenced a youth to undergo 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for raping a mentally retarded minor girl and another two year term for outraging her modesty. Twenty two-year-old Salim Samsher Shaikh was convicted yesterday by sessions Judge S.P. Nikam who awarded two sentences on the accused for committing offences under Section 376 IPC (rape) and Section 354 IPC (outraging modesty of a woman). Sentences would run separately.
Salim was charged with raping the minor in a local train between Malad and Borivali stations in full view of half a dozen commuters on August 14, 2002. He was convicted on the basis of testimony given by eye witnesses Ambrish Mishra and Vasant Kulai who were travelling in the same compartment. Mishra is a journalist working with an english daily and he had filed an FIR.
The court took into account the evidence tendered by eye witnesses and medical report of Dr Baban Shinde who had examined the accused. The accused pleaded ignorance and said if he was the culprit, commuters travelling in the same compartment could have overpowered him.
