A court in West Bengal on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to three out of nine convicts in connection with the gang rape of a minor, who later died of her injuries in 2022 at Hanskhali in Nadia district.

The Ranaghat additional district judge (ADJ) court sentenced Brajagopal Goali, Prabhakar Poddar and Ranjit Mallick to life imprisonment after finding them guilty of gang rape of the 14-year-old girl, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Samarendra Goali, father of prime accused Brajagopal, was awarded a five-year jail term.

One of the convicts, who was a minor at the time of the incident, was released on a bond of Rs 50,000 with a condition of maintaining good conduct for one year, the defence counsel said.

He said the order will be contested in a higher court.

The remaining convicts were awarded lesser jail terms for offences, including criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence and criminal intimidation, he said.

The ADJ court at Ranaghat had on Monday convicted the nine people in connection with the gang rape of the teenager, who died of her injuries in 2022 at Hanskhali.

The 14-year-old girl was gang-raped on April 4, 2022, during the birthday party of the son of a panchayat leader of the ruling TMC.

The girl fell ill and died the next day. Her body was cremated in haste, allegedly under pressure from the accused.

The incident had led to a public outcry and a political blame game between the opposition and ruling parties.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was entrusted with the probe in the case by the Calcutta High Court.

Lawyer Anindya Das had moved the Calcutta High Court seeking transfer of the investigation from the state police to the CBI, citing concerns that the involvement of a ruling party leader’s son could affect a free and fair probe.

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