An Indian court today found a Bangladeshi guilty of raping an elderly nun in a crime that sparked an outpouring of anger at persistent high levels of sexual assault in the country.
The 72-year-old nun needed surgery after the brutal attack in 2015, when a gang of robbers broke into the convent school where she lived in the eastern state of West Bengal.
A court in the state capital Kolkata found Nazrul Islam guilty of rape and attempted murder, among other offences.
Nuns arrive at a courthouse ahead of a final judgment in a rape and robbery case in Calcutta, eastern India today
‘It was a shameful act,’ additional judge Kumkum Singha told the packed City Sessions Court.
Singha said Islam acted alone in raping the nun, adding that five others arrested for their involvement were charged with offences unrelated to the sexual assault.
Rapist Islam will be sentenced Wednesday.
The nun, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked after the robbers ransacked the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat and stole cash and other items.
Arnab Ghosh, a police superintendent, said the men, aged between 20 and 30, scaled the boundary wall around 11.40pm on Friday, March 13.
They entered the school and disconnected the telephone lines, he added.
The robbers then tied up and gagged a security guard before entering the nuns’ room, where they found the women sleeping.
When the victim, who is the oldest nun at the school, tried to stop them taking another woman into a separate room they raped her.
State police officers stand guard in front of the convent school where an elderly nun was raped
The men escaped with some cash, a mobile phone, a laptop and a camera.
They also ransacked the school’s chapel and took holy items. CCTV showed books and papers strewn across the floor as the men left the staff room.
Mr Ghosh added: ‘At least two of them were armed and the rest were carrying burglary tools. In the chapel, a holy scripture was found torn and a bust of Jesus was broken.’
The nun was taken to hospital in Ranaghat around 7am on Saturday 14, where she needed an operation.
After the attack furious residents took to the streets, demanding action and blocking off the main highway.
Hundreds of students from the school carried banners with the slogan ‘we want justice’.
Police officers stand guard at a courthouse ahead of a final judgment in a rape and robbery case in Calcutta, eastern India today
A holy scripture was also torn and a statue of Jesus was broken.
The assault was the latest in a string of high-profile rapes in India, and prompted much soul-searching as priests and schoolgirls took to the streets demanding justice for the ‘inhumane’ crime.
Supporters closed shops, shuttered schools and held candlelit vigils outside the hospital where the nun underwent surgery for injuries suffered during the attack.
The police came under fire for perceived inaction after 10 men were detained but no arrests made, despite the faces of some attackers being captured on CCTV footage.
It took three months before the main accused was arrested.
The assault was the latest in a string of high-profile rapes in India, and prompted much soul-searching as priests and schoolgirls took to the streets demanding justice for the ‘inhumane’ crime.
Supporters closed shops, shuttered schools and held candlelit vigils outside the hospital where the nun underwent surgery for injuries suffered during the attack
Government data for 2015 shows 34,651 rapes were recorded, but campaigners say the true figure is likely to be much higher given the social stigma that still surrounds such cases.
India strengthened its laws on sexual violence after the fatal gang-rape of a Delhi student five years ago caused global outrage, but attacks remain widespread and enforcement is patchy.
The crime also sent shockwaves through India’s small Christian community, which was already reeling from a series of attacks on churches in the months before the assault.
The trial was relocated to Kolkata at the request of the assaulted nun, who expressed fear for her safety in Ranaghat where the crime occurred.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, expressed deep concern over the attack but was criticised for not speaking out earlier against religious violence.