New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Thursday said the movie “Life of Pi”, which the Dec 16 gang rape victim watched before the incident, where a tiger and a boy find comfort in each other, must have been etched in the victim’s mind.
Dismissing the appeals of the four convicts – Mukesh, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma – a division bench of Justice Reva Khetrapal and Justice Pratibha Rani observed that the victim was returning with her male companion after watching “Life of Pi”.
The court said that in the movie “how a young boy and a carnivore comfort each other in adversity and despite both being hungry and nothing available for their survival, did not harm each other, must be etched in her (victim) mind”.
“On the date of occurrence, the night slowly and intensely developed into real darkness for the victim as the convicts, to satisfy their lust, not only found easy prey when the victim along with her friend boarded the bus with a hope to have a comfortable journey at an affordable fare, little realising what destiny had in store for them,” the court said.
The bus with dark window panes proved to be a “haven” for the convicts to commit the gruesome act, it said.
The court said the closed doors and windows prevented the screams of the victim from being heard by people on the road, and switching off the lights prevented detection by other moving vehicles.
The 23-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped and brutally assaulted by six men, including a juvenile, in a moving bus. The woman died of grave intestinal injuries Dec 29, 2012 at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital.