Mumbai:
Four men in Mumbai have been convicted of two gang-rapes at a deserted textile mill in Mumbai.
The men were found guilty of raping a photojournalist in August at Shakti Mills, where she was on assignment; her male companion had been tied up while she was sexually assaulted. The case made headlines across the country, rupturing the image of Mumbai as one of the country's safest cities for women.
After the photo-journalist's case was filed, a telephone operator said the same four men had raped her one month earlier.
A Mumbai court today convicted the men, Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari and Siraj Rehman, for both cases. A fifth accused, a minor, is being tried in a juvenile court.
Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil was in court as the verdict was delivered.
In course of the trial, the photojournalist had fainted during her deposition. The other survivor screamed at the rapists, telling the court that she wanted to slap them.
The police say forensic evidence, call data records and DNA reports were stacked against the four men. They could face a maximum punishment of life in jail, under the new, tougher law passed after the fatal gang-rape of a young student in Delhi in December 16, 2012.