Budha Jayanti Park Gangrape: Two President’s Bodyguard Awarded Life Term

In sensational Budha Jayanti Park gangrape case, of all four accused belonging to the elite President’s Bodyguards, two have been sentenced to life imprisonment and remaining two to 10 years term in jail for robbery and abduction.

It should be noted that Harpreet Singh, Satender Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Manish Kumar – belonging to cavalier security guards of the elite President’s Bodyguard – were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), dealing with gangrape, abduction and attempt to commit robbery.

Satender and Harpeet were convicted of gangrape, abduction and robbery, while the other two – Kuldeep and Manish – were acquitted of the gangrape charge but convicted for abduction and robbery.

Following the verdict delivered by the Patiala house court, the defense counsel for the accused said that it would file an appeal in a higher court. The defence, alleging that all the four accused have families to support and are the sole bread earners, had requested a lenient appreciation.

On the contrary, the prosecution argued that court needs to take serious note because the accused were security guards, whose duty is to protect people and that the victim was a minor.

On October 6, 2003, the victim, 17, a student of Delhi University, had gone with her friend to the park, which is located close to Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was there that she was raped by Harpreet and Satender while the other two accused, Kuldeep and Manish, kept guard.

At the time of conviction of the four men on August 17, Satender’s grandfather, Ganpat Singh, had said that he would accept the court’s judgment.

“If the court has deemed him guilty then he is guilty. I don’t feel bad about this at all,” he said.

Nevertheless, Manish’s lawyer, Maninder Singh claims that there are discrepancies in the case against his client.

“There were lots of discrepancies in the case. As far as Manish is concerned the boyfriend failed to identify him also the blood test and serum reports were negative,” he said.