Mumbai Nov 25 PTI The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the life sentence awarded to a man in the case of the gangrape of a 19-year-old telephone operator inside the abandoned Shakti Mills compound here in 2013The high court earlier in the day commuted to life sentence the death penalty awarded to three convicts in the case of gangrape of a photojournalist in the Shakti Mills compound which had taken place only a month laterAs to the rape of the 19-year-old telephone operator the court held that delay in filing of FIR would not matter considering the attitudes in our societyA division bench of Justices Sadhana Jadhav and Prithiviraj Chavan dismissed the appeal filed by Mohammed Ashfaq Dawood Shaikh against the trial courts order of March 2014 sentencing him to life imprisonmentAs per the prosecution on July 31 2013 the appellant and six others gangraped the victim a telephone operator after forcibly taking her and her boyfriend inside the premises of the defunct textile mill in central MumbaiThe case came to light after a 22-year-old photojournalist was gangraped by five persons inside the mills compound a month laterDuring the probe police realized that a similar crime had taken place in the compound earlierA total of seven persons including a minor were arrested in the two casesThree accused were common in both the cases While the trio was awarded death penalty by the trial court Shaikh and another accused were awarded life imprisonmentShaikhs lawyer Anjali Patil had argued that it was a false case that was lodged after a month of the alleged incidentThe high court refused to accept thisIn view of our tradition-bound non-permissive society where the reputation and honour of the family of a victim of a sexual assault is at stake it is not expected that an immediate report would be lodgedThere is no doubt the victim was subjected to the most humiliating horrendous and embarrassing form of sexual assault by the five accused that too in the presence of her boyfriend with whom she was to marry the HC saidEvidence given by the victim and her boyfriend was reliable truthful and inspired full confidence and there was clinching evidence pointing to the guilt of the appellant Shaikh the court saidThe HC also passed strictures against the state-run J J Hospital for using the degrading and unscientific archaic two finger test during the victims medical examinationWe hope that the State of Maharashtra would take necessary steps to shun all such unscientific and heavily criticized two finger test It appears that the Maharashtra government has formulated some guidelines We expect and hope that the State will strictly adhere to the same the bench said PTI SP KRK KRK KRK