Rape, dacoity convicts do not deserve mercy'

Kolkata: Six convicts sentenced to varying jail terms in a rape and dacoity case did not deserve any mercy, Kolkata sessions court judge Kumkum Sinha said on Wednesday, pronouncing the quantum of punishment.

They committed the “heinous” crime of vandalising a place of worship and committing sexual atrocities on an aged nun at the Jesus and Mary Convent at Ranaghat in Nadia district in 2015, the court said.

Quoting from Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, the judge said Jesus Christ, in the guise of a child, had told the giant that “these are the wounds of love”, when inquired about nail- inflicted wounds on his palm and feet.

“But in this case, these are not the wounds of love and the convicts do not deserve mercy,” judge Sinha said while sentencing the six convicts, including the one who raped the 72-year old nun at the convent during the dacoity.

Observing that the spirit of probation was not applicable to any of the convicts, Sinha said, “There can be no mercy to someone who destroyed the virginity of a nun and to those who vandalised a place of worship.”

In her order, the judge noted that the convicts had been accused by the West Bengal CID, the investigating agency, of ransacking and looting the convent for nearly three to four hours during the night of March 14, 2015.

The observations came after five of the six convicts claimed that they were from financially downtrodden families and had children and aged parents to take care of and pleaded for a shorter imprisonment term.

Nazrul Islam, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment till death for the rape of the nun, did not say anything before the pronouncement of the sentence.

Convict Milan Sarkar claimed his eldest daughter was studying MBBS at a medical college in Bangladesh capital Dhaka, while one of his sons was studying in the 12th standard.

Another convict Ohidul Islam said he was a cycle-van driver in Bangladesh, while Gopal Sarkar said he has an eight-year old son and a bed-ridden mother to take care of.

Stating that the age of all the convicts, apart from Gopal Sarkar, was between 25 and 32 years, the defence counsel prayed for leniency and a chance for rectification.

Public prosecutor Dipak Ranjan Ghosh, however, pleaded for maximum sentence to all the convicts owing to the nature of the crime committed. 

Stating that the crime was a unique incident given its nature, Ghosh said, “The way the ‘tabernacle’ (portable shrine) and the prayer hall at the convent were ransacked, it was an insult to their religion.” Noting that the convicts do not deserve any mercy, Ghosh said they have said dacoity was their profession.