Five men have been convicted in an Indian court for the Mumbai gang rapes of a photojournalist and a call-centre worker, reports the Associated Press.
Mohammed Kasim Sheikh, Vijay Jadhav and Salim Ansari were convicted of the rapes of both women.
Siraj Rehman Khan was also convicted for his participation in the attack on the photojournalist. The fifth man, Mohammed Ashwaq Sheikh, was convicted for his participation in the assault of the call-centre operator, according to The New York Times.
The men are expected to get a 20-year to life sentence in a hearing scheduled for Mar. 21. The five men range in age from 19 to 26 years-old and all of them live in the slums surrounding a textile factory. Two minors will be tried in juvenile court.
The call-centre operator was raped on Jul. 31 in an abandoned textile factory in lower Mumbai. A month later a 22-year-old photojournalist was with a male colleague when the men approached them. The men claimed to be able to help them with permits to shoot in the textile factory. The men then attacked them, tying up the male colleague, and repeatedly raping the photojournalist.
A call for justice
There was public outcry calling for police to do more to protect the safety and security of women. The Indian government responded to the public demands and have vowed to fast-track rape cases, double the prison time for rapists and criminalize voyeurism and stalking, according to the Associated Press.
A changing landscape
The photojournalist shocked the nation when she told a local news station “rape is not the end of life,” reports the Associated Press.
Rape became an international issue for India after four men were given the death penalty in September 2013 in the 2012 New Delhi rape case. A woman was dragged off a bus, gang raped, and subsequently killed.
This attack incited India’s largest public protests against violence against women.
