“Gulati’s crimes were serious sexual offences"
A man who filmed himself raping a vulnerable woman after a night out in Leicester has had his prison sentence increased after senior judges ruled it was “unduly lenient”.
Gagandeep Gulati, of Hounslow, West London, recorded nine videos of the attack in Castle Gardens in September 2023 and sent some to others.
He later told police he was the victim, claiming the woman had “forced” him to commit the offence.
In March, Gulati was convicted at Leicester Crown Court of rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, and sharing or threatening to share intimate footage.
He was sentenced to six years in a young offenders’ institution.
On June 19, 2025, three senior judges ruled that the sentence for the rape should be increased to nine years, while imposing concurrent sentences for the assault by penetration and sexual assault of four years and six months respectively.
The conviction for sharing or threatening to share intimate images was quashed, with judges ruling that the offence had been wrongly tried at Crown Court. Instead, the filming was treated as an aggravating factor in the rape.
Lord Justice Popplewell, who heard the case with Mr Justice Bryan and Judge Martin Picton, said Gulati’s motive for recording the attack was “seeking to give the false impression of consent”, calling it a “significant aggravating factor”.
He added: “The original sentence was not merely lenient, but unduly so.”
The court heard that Gulati met the woman in Leicester city centre on September 23, 2023. Both had been on separate nights out.
Gulati, a business student at a Leicester university at the time, led the woman, who was “completely out of it” from alcohol, to a secluded part of Castle Gardens and raped her.
Following his arrest, Gulati told police: “She forced me, I did not force her. I am a religious person. I did not do anything wrong.”
Lord Justice Popplewell said Gulati claimed he had considered reporting the woman to police and that the videos showed he was “afraid for his life”.
During the original sentencing, the trial judge said filming the attack was “nothing more than a cynical and contrived attempt to protect himself” and showed Gulati “boasting of his predatory sexual prowess”.
Gulati appeared at the Court of Appeal via video link from HMP Swinfen Hall in Staffordshire. He showed no reaction as his sentence was increased.
Dan Bishop, representing Solicitor General Lucy Rigby, said:
“Gulati’s crimes were serious sexual offences against a highly vulnerable victim… who was unable to consent.
“The sentence was not just a lenient sentence, but was one that was unduly lenient.”
Katya Saudek, representing Gulati, said his “future opportunities had been completely destroyed by his own opportunistic actions”.
She said: “I can’t say it was not a generous sentence, I can’t say it was not lenient, but in my submission not unduly lenient.”
Speaking after the hearing, Ms Rigby said: “Gagandeep Gulati’s rape of a vulnerable young woman before sharing his awful crimes with other people was sickening.
“I welcome the court’s decision to increase his sentence following my intervention.”
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