JOIN USA youth who had kidnapped and raped a 13-year-old girl, and claimed to have married her a day later, has been sentenced to seven years in jail by a Delhi court. The court said her “consent” was no help to him as she was below 16 years.
The court convicted 23-year-old Firoz, who allegedly married the girl after raping her in Aligarh in 2010, saying he failed to prove the solemnisation of marriage. The court said even if it was presumed that they got married, no marital relationship existed between them on the day she was raped.
Additional sessions judge Umed Singh Grewal also imposed a fine of Rs 8,000 on him and rejected his contention that the girl married him with her own consent. “There was sexual intercourse between the parties but with consent. The girl has already been held below 13 years. Consent by a girl below 16 years is of no help to the accused (Firoz),” the court said.
It also noted that although Firoz has argued that he married the girl on September 18, 2010 the minor was raped by him a day before their alleged marriage. “Even if it is presumed that marriage has been proved, it is again of no use to the accused because that affidavit is dated September 18, 2010 whereas the girl deposed that she was raped on September 17, 2010,” the judge said. “On that day, no marital relationship existed between them.”
The court, however, acquitted a woman, Munni, who was co-accused in the case for allegedly threatening the minor girl and taking her to Firoz. The court said police have failed to substantiate the allegations levelled against her.
Jailed for 10 years
A man has been sentenced by a fast track court here to 10 years in jail for illegally confining and raping a minor girl.
Rejecting a plea for leniency on the ground that the convict had a wife and two children to support, additional sessions judge Virender Bhat, who heads the fast track court at Dwarka, awarded rigorous imprisonment to 27-year-old Mohammed Arif.
The court said he took advantage of a “defenceless” minor girl to rape her, which “is the most hated crime in society”.
The court said taking a sympathetic view for such a crime will be counter productive in the long run. “The victim was a minor and Arif took advantage of her such state and raped her.
He also confined her to a room in his house,” the judge said, and also imposed a cost of Rs 35,000 on Arif. The prosecution said on December 16, 2011, Arif took the girl to his house in west Delhi while she was returning home from a nearby market, and raped her. He also threatened to kill her.