Setting the right precedent against sexual predators, Jharkhand High Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of and life term for 14 men who gang-raped a 19-year-old engineering aspirant in Bokaro steel city 16 years ago, leaving her mentally unstable till she died seven years ago.

The division bench of Chief Justice Virender Singh and Justice P.P. Bhatt, however, acquitted six of the total 21 people, who were convicted by a lower court, for want of "direct evidence" while a seventh person died in judicial custody during the long trial.

The gang rape dates back to April 5, 1999, a year before Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar, and was no less brutal than the 2012 Delhi incident that earned international opprobrium.

According to the case registered by the girl's father on April 7 that year, the teenager was abducted from near her home while she was taking an evening stroll, which she often did between her long study hours, and tormented at Kawali Maidan in Bharra Basti for five hours.

Besides raping her repeatedly, the gang - comprising voyeuristic mechanics from a garage near the victim's home - forced her to drink dirty water when she said she was thirsty afterwards. They left her stripped, bleeding and barely conscious.

In the small hours of April 6, the girl dragged herself to a house in the bustee, crying for help. Some people informed her father and she was rushed to hospital.

More than physical injuries, the incident left the teenager, who was preparing for her engineering entrance, in deep trauma. Her father, in his deposition, said she lost her sleep and was treated at various psychiatric institutions. On April 20, 2008, the girl breathed her last at the age of 28.

The sessions court in Bokaro convicted 21 accused and sentenced them to life on May 21, 2004, after which they appealed in high court.

The division bench, while criticising then Bokaro DSP Muhammad Nehal for delaying investigations, upheld conviction of Sabir Shah, Pramod Pillai, Anwar Ansari, Mani Swami, Islam Ansari, Feroz Shah, Mobin Akhtar, Sayuum Ansari, Abbas Ansari, Mansoor Ansari, Sirajjudin Ansari, Tayyab Ansari, Barju Shah and Habib Ansari.

Talib Ansari died in custody and the high court acquitted Mojib Ansari, Iqbal Shah, Noor Alam, Abdul Quazi Rizwan, Gaffar Ansarii and Khalid Hussain for lack of adequate evidence of direct involvement.