The Delhi High Court Wednesday upheld the life sentence awarded to a man who gouged out an eye of a nurse working with him at the Shanti Mukund Hospital in east Delhi before raping her in 2003.
Upholding the life term awarded to Bhura Singh for raping the nurse, a bench of Justice Anil Kumar and Justice V.K. Shali modified the trial court’s order which had sentenced the man to life imprisonment for gouging out the victim’s eye, apart from the life term for rape.
“For gouging out the eye, the convict needs to be sentenced only for inflicting grievous injury to the victim,” the bench said.
Accordingly, the bench awarded seven years jail term to him for the offence.
The bench passed its order on an appeal filed by Bhura Singh.
The bench set aside his conviction on the charge of causing grievous hurt by a dangerous weapon and held him guilty of causing grievous injury while sentencing him to a concurrent seven-year jail term.
The court rejected the victim’s plea that Bhura Singh should not be allowed to avail any parole or remission during his jail term.
The nurse was on duty at the hospital at Karkari Mode in east Delhi and tasked to look after a comatose patient on the night of Sep 7-8, 2003.
She woke up in the middle of the night to find the convict attempting to force himself on her. When she tried to shrug him off, Bhura Singh pushed his fingers into her eyes, gouging out her right eye and wounding the left one.
He then dragged her to an adjacent bathroom, raped her and locked her in.
A city court in April 2005 sentenced him to life imprisonment for rape. The court also fined him Rs.10,000.
