Mohali: An additional district and sessions court has sentenced three men to 20 years’ imprisonment for gang-raping a woman artist after allegedly luring her with the promise of a song shoot involving a Punjabi singer in 2022. The convicts were identified as Jaswinder Singh alias Jelly, Deepak Kumar and Gurwinder Singh alias Manna. Each was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000 under Section 376D. The court also awarded them seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000 under Section 394, and five years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 8,000 under Sections 366 and 120B. In case of non-payment of the fines, the convicts will undergo an additional three months’ imprisonment.According to the complaint lodged with Majri police, the woman, an artist, received a message on Oct 12, 2022, asking if she would participate in the shooting of a Punjabi singer’s song. She initially declined to travel to Sector 43, Chandigarh, but later agreed when the person who had contacted her arrived at her residence to pick her up.During the journey, she allegedly overheard him speaking on the phone about picking up other girls. When she asked about their destination, she was told they were going to collect more girls from Atipur.Near Atipur, two men on a motorcycle allegedly stopped their vehicle, took its keys and snatched her mobile phone. One of the accused allegedly threatened her with a knife before all three sexually assaulted her. She also alleged that the accused repeatedly choked her and covered her mouth during the assault.After examining the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the court convicted the three men and sentenced them to imprisonment under the relevant sections of law.
