Court jails man for 30 years in gangrape case

 A man, who repeatedly sexually assaulted a woman by confining her for nine months and gangraped her with his two associates, has been sent to jail for 30 years by a Delhi court.

The court held Uttar Pradesh resident Shiva guilty of gangrape, rape, wrongfully confining the 30-year-old, causing hurt and criminal intimidation and said "the crime committed by the convict was intensely grave, odious and serious in nature".

The court made it clear that Shiva will first undergo imprisonment of 10 years for rape, criminal intimidation, wrongful confinement and causing hurt and thereafter the sentence of 20 years rigorous imprisonment for the offence of gang rape will begin.

"...There is no escape from the conclusion that the prosecutrix was not a consenting party either to the sexual intercourse with the accused or with other persons, who had ravished her on March 22, 2013 at the instance of the accused.

"The prosecution has also established that the accused had been giving beatings to the prosecutrix regularly and issuing threats to her not to disclose the incidents of forcible sexual intercourse to anybody else. However, there is no evidence on record to support the charge under Section 377 (unnatural offence) of the IPC framed against the accused," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said.

The other two associates of Shiva could not be arrested.

The court, however, rejected the woman's claim that she was kidnapped by Shiva, who was known to her, in a train when she was travelling with her husband and children from Kanpur to Rae Bareli.

"I find it very difficult to believe that a grown up lady can be taken away from a crowded train compartment in such a fashion. Further, it would not be possible for a person to carry a lady in an unconscious state from a railway station between Kanpur and Raibareilly up to Delhi without being noticed by any person including police officials," the judge said.

At the same time, it said merely because the evidence led by the woman indicates that she may have gone to Shiva voluntarily does not necessarily imply and construe that she had gone there to enjoy sexual relations with him.

"The reason for the woman to leave her husband and children could have been something else, may be a marital discord etc."
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 55,000 on Shiva.

According to the prosecution, the woman and Shiva knew each other. On June 15, 2012, she along with her husband and children was going in a train from Kanpur to Rae Bareli. When she went to toilet, she found him there.

He made her unconscious and took her to a room in Delhi where he raped her for nine months and also did not allow her to go anywhere. Shiva used to rape the woman and commit unnatural sex after administering "intoxicating  medicine" to her, the police added.

On March 22, 2013, Shiva brought his two associates to his room and after increasing the volume of television, they all gangraped her and threatened her not to disclose the incident to anyone, or else she would be killed, it said.

The next day, the woman managed to escape from the house. She reached a nearby railway station and made a call to the police. Shiva was arrested by officials of Dwarka Sector 23 Police Station.

The court, while holding Shiva guilty in the case, relied on the DNA test reports which proved that the woman was raped by him and two others.

The judge refused to show any lenient view towards Shiva saying there were no mitigating factors in his favour which may persuade the court to impose any lenient sentence on him.

"It is apparent that Shiva found a soft target in the woman as she had come to him on her own after leaving her husband and children," the court said.