BANGALORE: A civil and sessions court in Bangalore on Friday sentenced six persons to life term for gang-raping an undergraduate student of the National Law School of India University ( NLSIU ) on October 13 last year on Bangalore University's Jnanabharathi campus.

One accused, Raja, 24, is absconding. The eighth accused is a minor whose case is before the juvenile justice court.

The quantum of sentence was pronounced by sessions judge Krishnamurthy B Sangannavar.

The convicted men are Maddura (20), Doddaeeraiah (19), Shivanna (20), Eeraiah (20), Yelayaiah (23) and Rama (50). They all belong to the Iruliga tribe and are residents of Dasegowdana Doddi in Ramanagaram taluk.

Public prosecutor Sanjay Kumar Venkataramana Bhat told TOI that the prosecution had appealed to the court to award maximum punishment to the accused and adequate compensation to the victim under the new scheme of Section 357(A) of the CrPC.

"Defence counsel argued that his clients have families and urged the court to take a lenient view on the ground that they were sole breadwinners," he said.

The prosecution examined 31 witnesses during the trial, which commenced on June 28 and ended on August 2. None of them turned hostile.

NLSIU case: No contradiction among witnesses

It may be recalled rape laws were amended earlier this year following a nationwide outrage against the gang rape and murder of a paramedic in New Delhi on December 16 , 2012. The prosecution in the NLSIU rape case, however, did not invoke the amended laws on rape as they couldn't come into effect retrospectively.

"We did not examine all the witnesses as that could have adversely affected the case . All witnesses voluntarily appeared and deposed before the court. There was no contradiction among prosecution witnesses ," said public prosecutor Bhat .

Jnanabharathi police filed a chargesheet under Sections 323 , 324 (assault ), 397 , 376 (2)( g) read with Section 149. The victim was given 15 days to appear before the court as she was appearing for her exams. Seventy-four objects and 79 documents were placed before the court during the trial.

The rape survivor discontinued her studies and returned home during pendency of trial. Sources said she was unable to come to terms with the trauma .

A second-year law student, the girl and her friend, a techie, were sitting in a car on the night of October 13 when they were attacked by the eight-member gang. The assailants , suspected sandalwood smugglers , dragged her out of the car, took her deep into the forest, and raped her. They then let her go.

The girl returned to her on-campus hostel, and with her friend, filed a police complaint.

Within a week of the crime, six of the accused were arrested from near the revenue offices in Ramanagaram.