Birbhum gangrape: 13 convicts get 20 years in prison for raping on order of kangaroo court

Labhpur: A court in West Bengal sentenced 13 people to 20 years of imprisonment on Saturday for the gang-rape of a tribal girl on the orders of a kangaroo court in Birbhum district eight months ago.

Reportedly, additional district and sessions judge Siddhartha Roy Choudhury said that the district magistrate of tribal-dominated Birbhum must make sure that family members of the guilty do not suffer from starvation.

All the convicted are from the backward sections of the society.

On January 21, a tribal girl from Subolpur village in Birbhum was gang-raped by a group of men for having affair with a boy from another community.

The incident sent a shock wave across India. Supreme Court also took stock and directed the district magistrate of Birbhum to submit a report.

The woman's family, in their complaint, said that she was gang raped by 13 persons after a 'salishi sabha' or kangaroo court decided to punish her on January 21. The victim said that among those who brutalised her were people old enough to be her father.

The victim and her paramour were caught, tied to a tree and assaulted after which they were asked to pay a fine of Rs 50,000. The gang rape took place after the girl said that she was unable to pay.