President's bodyguards convicted in gang rape case

A city court on Monday found four members of the elite President’s Bodyguard guilty of raping a 17-year-old Delhi University student in 2003. Additional sessions judge SK Saravaria will decide on the quantum of punishment on August 22.

The girl was raped inside Buddha Jayanti Park in central Delhi, which is close to an army cantonment, on October 6, 2003. The park is also close to the president’s house where the four convicts were posted.

According to the police chargesheet submitted in the court, the teenager had gone to the park with a friend where the four accused first assaulted the duo and then took the girl to a secluded place inside the park.

While two of the accused stood guard, the other two raped her. The Delhi police arrested the four accused the next day. A chargesheet was filed in Patiala House court on November 28, 2003, and the sessions court began hearing the case on December 20 the same year.

The court found Harpreet Singh and Satyender Singh guilty of rape, while Kuldeep Singh and Manish Kumar were convicted for helping the duo in carrying out the offence.
Relatives of the four convicts said that their kin were innocent and they would appeal against the judgement.