Shakti Mills gang rape
A view of the decrepit Shakti Mills compound. | |
| Date | 22 August 2013 |
|---|---|
| Time | 6:54 pm IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Location | Shakti Mills compound, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Also known as | Shakti Mills gang rape |
| Non-fatal injuries | 2 (female and male victim) |
| Convicted | Mohammed Kasim Hafiz Shaikh alias Kasim Mohammed Salim Ansari Vijay Jadhav Siraj Rehman Khan alias Sirju Mohammed Ashfaq Sheikh 2 unnamed juveniles |
| Verdict | 3 get death penalty (commuted to life imprisonment) 1 gets life imprisonment 2 juveniles get 3 years in reform school |
| Convictions | 13 counts; including gang rape, unnatural sex, assault, wrongful restraint, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation, common intention, destruction of evidence, and certain Sections of the Information Technology Act |
The 2013 Mumbai gang rape, also known as the Shakti Mills gang rape, refers to the incident in which a 22-year-old photojournalist, who was interning with an English-language magazine in Mumbai, was gang-raped by five people, including a juvenile. The incident occurred on 22 August 2013, when she had gone to the deserted Shakti Mills compound, near Mahalaxmi in South Mumbai, with a male colleague on an assignment. The accused had tied up the victim's colleague with belts and raped her. The accused took photos of the victim during the sexual assault, and threatened to release them to social networks if she reported the rape. Later, an eighteen-year-old call centre employee reported that she too had been gang-raped, on 31 July 2013, inside the mills complex.
On 20 March 2014, a Mumbai sessions court convicted all five adult accused in both cases on 13 counts. On 4 April 2014, the court awarded the death penalty to the three repeat offenders in the photojournalist rape case. For the other two accused, one was awarded life imprisonment, while the other accused turned approver in the case. Two minors, one in each case, were tried by the Juvenile Justice Board separately. They were convicted on 15 July 2015, and sentenced to three years (including time in custody) in a Nashik reform school, the maximum punishment that a juvenile offender can receive under Indian law.
The Bombay High Court commuted the three death sentences to imprisonment for the remainder of their natural life on 25 November 2021.