Life term for raping pregnant relative

A 35-year-old man has been given life imprisonment for raping a pregnant relative.

A special fast track court here said stern punishment should be given to him as women need to be protected. The special fast track court, set up to try exclusively cases of sexual offences against women, directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to the woman in accordance with the Delhi Victims Compensation Scheme.

Additional sessions judge Nivedita Anil Sharma also imposed a fine of Rs 62,000 on convict Ramjee Lal after holding him guilty of raping, intimidating and wrongfully confining the victim in March last year.

According to the prosecution, Lal, a resident of Uttam Nagar here, had raped the woman, who was the wife of his nephew, twice on March 3 last year when she was alone in her house. He had threatened her not to disclose the incident to anyone.

The woman then told her husband about the incident, and the accused, a carpenter, had assaulted the couple when they had gone to his house. The prosecution said a case was then registered against Lal, and he was arrested.