Man gets seven years for rape of Irish charity worker in India

A MAN in India has been sentenced to seven years in prison for drugging and raping a young Irish woman who had travelled there to do charity work.

The woman had just arrived in Kolkata, eastern India, and was celebrating her birthday with friends when she was approached by businessman Sujoy Mitra, 40, in May 2013.

The woman, who has not been identified, had travelled to India to volunteer with a charity helping the homeless living in desperate poverty on Kolkata’s streets.

The court heard how Mitra had befriended his victim in a bar where he spiked her drink before luring her back to his home in the Kalighat region in the south of the city and raping her.

She was semi-conscious when the attack took place, and told police she could not stop Mitra.

When she returned to her hotel, her concerned friends brought her to the local police station, where she reported the rape.

Her attacker’s trial began in 2015 and heard from 23 witnesses, including the victim who gave her evidence via Skype from the Indian embassy.

Mitra’s lawyers had demanded that she give her evidence from ‘an official address’ so the woman spoke from the Indian embassy in Leeson Park, Dublin.

The Times of India reported that she is one of the first foreign rape victims attacked in India to Skype their testimony from abroad.

A public prosecutor told the newspaper this was a landmark case that will, hopefully, help fight the surge in rapes of tourist women taking place in India.

He said: ‘It can open a new path for foreigners to seek justice without taking the trouble of travelling.’

Mitra was convicted by the Alipore Judges Court and sentenced to seven years in prison on Saturday.

He must also pay 200,000 rupees (€2,560) or face having his jail term extended by another year.