Court gives seven-year imprisonment to man for rape

A man, facing trial for raping a 12-year-old girl here in 2011, has been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven years by a Delhi court which said the testimony of the victim was reliable.

Additional Sessions Judge Gulshan Kumar held 30-year-old Vijay guilty of the offence punishable under section 376 (rape) of the IPC and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him.

“Accused Vijay has committed rape upon a minor girl. He does not deserve any leniency in the facts and circumstances of the case. Accordingly, Vijay is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of seven years and a fine of Rs 10,000,” the court said.

According to police, Vijay took the minor, who was his neighbour, to a secluded place on October 28, 2011 and raped her. It said the victim was residing here with her maternal aunt and she told her relative about the incident after which police were called.

In her deposition, the girl told the court that on October 28, 2011, she had gone to a nearby market in Mehrauli and Vijay followed her and took her to a secluded place and raped her.

During the trial, Vijay denied the allegations levelled against him and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case at the instance of the family members of the girl. The court, however, convicted him while relying on the testimony of the victim and the medical evidence. “The testimony of the girl is corroborated with the medical evidence and the medical evidence is unrebutted and unchallenged,” the judge said, adding the testimony of the girl inspires confidence and is trustworthy and reliable.

Molester jailed

Describing the “increasing” offences against women in the Capital as a serious public order problem, a Delhi court sentenced a 39-year-old man to one year in jail for molesting his neighbour.

Metropolitan Magistrate Ekta Gauba gave the jail term to Ajit Singh and refused to release him on probation saying it is a serious problem if women are not safe even in their own area from their neighbours.

“Convict Ajit Singh does not deserve the benefit to be released on probation,” the court said. The court took the decision keeping in view of the fact that convict Ajit Singh, being a neighbour, had outraged the modesty of the woman and also voluntarily caused hurt to her while outraging her modesty.

The court also focused on the fact that offence against women are on increase in the city and it is a well known fact that it is a serious public order problem if the women are not safe in their own area from the neighbours, and in view of the facts and circumstances.

The incident took place in April, 2005 when Singh stopped the woman in front of her house and molested her, according to the prosecution.

The woman had also sustained injuries when she tried to free herself from the clutches of Singh.