Jail till death for nun rape

TT, Calcutta: A city court has sentenced to imprisonment till death Nazrul Islam, a Bangladeshi national found guilty of raping an elderly nun at a Roman Catholic school in Nadia's Ranaghat in March 2015.

Four other accused were sent to jail for 10 years by the city sessions court. Gopal Sarkar, a Ranaghat resident who was found guilty of sheltering the criminals by renting out his home to them, was handed a seven-year jail term.

Five of the six convicts are Bangladeshis. They had raided the Convent of Jesus and Mary School at Don Bosco Para in Ranaghat.

Judge Kumkum Sinha said: "Jesus would also have declined to pardon them."

The judge asked Nazrul to pay a fine of Rs 50,000. His four Bangladeshi associates were ordered to pay Rs 10,000 each. "The fine amount will have to be paid to the victim (the nun) and if she refuses to accept it, the money will be deposited to the church," judge Sinha said.

When the judge asked Nazrul if he had anything to say, he refused to comment. The others begged for pardon and forgiveness.

BANGLADESHI MAN IS FOUND GUILTY OF RAPING AN ELDERLY NUN WHILE ROBBERS RANSACKED A CONVENT AND SMASHED A STATUE OF JESUS IN INDIA Gareth Davies For Mailonline, 7 November 2017: An Indian court today found a Bangladeshi guilty of raping an elderly nun in a crime that sparked an outpouring of anger at persistent high levels of sexual assault in the country.

The 72-year-old nun needed surgery after the brutal attack in 2015, when a gang of robbers broke into the convent school where she lived in the eastern state of West Bengal.

A court in the state capital Kolkata found Nazrul Islam guilty of rape and attempted murder, among other offences.

Nuns arrive at a courthouse ahead of a final judgment in a rape and robbery case in Calcutta, eastern India today

‘It was a shameful act,’ additional judge Kumkum Singha told the packed City Sessions Court.

Singha said Islam acted alone in raping the nun, adding that five others arrested for their involvement were charged with offences unrelated to the sexual assault.

Rapist Islam will be sentenced Wednesday.

The nun, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked after the robbers ransacked the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat and stole cash and other items.

Arnab Ghosh, a police superintendent, said the men, aged between 20 and 30, scaled the boundary wall around 11.40pm on Friday, March 13.

They entered the school and disconnected the telephone lines, he added.

The robbers then tied up and gagged a security guard before entering the nuns’ room, where they found the women sleeping.

When the victim, who is the oldest nun at the school, tried to stop them taking another woman into a separate room they raped her.

State police officers stand guard in front of the convent school where an elderly nun was raped

The men escaped with some cash, a mobile phone, a laptop and a camera.

They also ransacked the school’s chapel and took holy items. CCTV showed books and papers strewn across the floor as the men left the staff room.

Mr Ghosh added: ‘At least two of them were armed and the rest were carrying burglary tools. In the chapel, a holy scripture was found torn and a bust of Jesus was broken.’

The nun was taken to hospital in Ranaghat around 7am on Saturday 14, where she needed an operation.

After the attack furious residents took to the streets, demanding action and blocking off the main highway.

Hundreds of students from the school carried banners with the slogan ‘we want justice’.
Police officers stand guard at a courthouse ahead of a final judgment in a rape and robbery case in Calcutta, eastern India today

Police officers stand guard at a courthouse ahead of a final judgment in a rape and robbery case in Calcutta, eastern India today

A holy scripture was also torn and a statue of Jesus was broken.

The assault was the latest in a string of high-profile rapes in India, and prompted much soul-searching as priests and schoolgirls took to the streets demanding justice for the ‘inhumane’ crime.

Supporters closed shops, shuttered schools and held candlelit vigils outside the hospital where the nun underwent surgery for injuries suffered during the attack.

The police came under fire for perceived inaction after 10 men were detained but no arrests made, despite the faces of some attackers being captured on CCTV footage.

It took three months before the main accused was arrested.