Aizawl: A Mizoram court has convicted two BSF personnel of gang-raping a woman and pouring acid on her face in a bid to blind her and erase evidence linking them to the crime near a border outpost in Mamit district back in 2017.Additional district and sessions judge Sylvie Z Ralte convicted Nilanjan Das and Dinesh Kumar on Friday after a trial that heard 18 witnesses, including medical and forensic experts. Sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday.Prosecutors said the survivor and her friend had gone to Gaskata stream near Silsury West border outpost close to Bangladesh on July 16, 2017, to forage for crabs and bamboo shoots when they were intercepted by two BSF men carrying large tiffin boxes.Case stemmed from an FIR after a complaint lodged by the survivor’s brother. The complaint alleged his sister had been gang-raped and attacked with acid while her companion had gone missing. According to prosecution, the friend left briefly to relieve herself before Das and Kumar sexually assaulted the survivor and poured acid on her face, leaving her with severe burns, disfigurement and temporary loss of vision. Villagers later found her and alerted family members.Police opened investigation on July 17 and took the survivor for medical examination a day later. Doctors confirmed sexual assault and acid burns. She was initially treated at a primary health centre before being shifted to Aizawl civil hospital.Separate proceedings are under way in connection with the death of the survivor’s friend, whose body bearing acid burns was recovered near crime scene on July 17 following an extensive search. Mizoram police investigated both cases.Investigators followed trail to 181 Battalion BSF camp and matched suspects through duty rosters. Das and Kumar were assigned food-supply duties on the day of the crime. During a test identification parade on Sept 5, 2017, the survivor identified both men as her attackers.The court’s verdict is believed to mark Mizoram’s first conviction in an acid attack case, bringing a long-running prosecution to a close and tightening legal net around a crime that had remained under scrutiny for nearly a decade.
