Rajasthan: Court convicts 3 for Dalit girl’s rape, death in 2016

The girl’s death in March 2016 had resulted in widespread protest against the then Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government.
Five years after the death of a 17-year-old Dalit girl in Rajasthan, a Bikaner court on Friday convicted three people in the case on charges including rape and abetment to suicide.
According to court officials, the three will be sentenced on Monday. The girl’s death in March 2016 had resulted in widespread protest against the then Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also visited the girl’s home in Barmer.
“A special sessions court in Bikaner dealing with POCSO cases today convicted the three accused-Vijendra Singh, Priya Shukla and her husband Pragya Prateek Shukla. Their sentencing is scheduled for Monday. Singh, who raped the girl, has been convicted under several IPC sections along with sections of the POCSO Act and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,” said special public prosecutor Subhash Sahu.
He added that the court of district judge DS Nagar convicted the two other accused Priya Shukla and her husband Pragya Prateek Shukla under sections 305 IPC and other sections of the POCSO Act.
“While Singh raped the girl, the husband-wife duo didn’t report the incident to the police and instead made the girl write an apology letter. Owing to the trauma, the girl committed suicide on the very next day. The incident happened while the girl was studying at a college in Bikaner. Singh, who raped the girl, was a PT teacher while Pragya and Priya Shukla were the principal of a school and hostel warden who lived in the college campus,” said Sahu.
The incident had resulted in nationwide outrage with the Congress, which was then in the opposition, slamming the BJP government in Rajasthan.
Courtesy: TIE
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