Eight years of rigorous imprisonment has been awarded by the Delhi High Court to a man who has been sentenced to an abduction-cum-rape case, which termed the minor victim’s testimony as “consistent” and “truthful”.
The special fast track court, constituted to try cases of sexual offence against women, also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Rakesh, a resident of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.
“While considering and analysing the entire prosecution evidence, this court has come to the conclusion that all the oral, circumstantial and scientific evidence has proved that the accused Rakesh committed offence of kidnapping/abduction or inducing a woman to compel her marriage, etc and committed sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix forcibly against her will,” additional sessions judge TR Naval said.
The judge said out of the fine amount, Rs 10,000 will be paid to the victim as compensation.
According to police, an FIR was lodged by the girl’s mother alleging that when they had returned home here on September 23, 2006, their 15-year-old daughter was not present and they later came to know that their neighbour Rakesh had taken her with him. Police arrested Rakesh near New Delhi railway station and rescued the girl from him.
The girl had told the court that on September 23, 2006, Rakesh came to her house when her parents were not there and told her to accompany him to his village on the pretext that he would take her to various places.
Rakesh took her to his village and raped her, she said, adding that on her insistence, he brought her to Delhi where police arrested him.
During the trial, Rakesh said that on September 23, 2006, the girl had arrived at his factory at Vishwas Nagar here and thereafter they went to his village in Uttar Pradesh.
The defence counsel argued the girl’s statement was not reliable and Rakesh was falsely implicated in the case. The court, however, held Rakesh had admitted that he went with the girl and was apprehended by police when she was with him.
It rejected the submission of the defence counsel saying there was no evidence on record to show any motive or reason for the girl to depose falsely against Rakesh.
“I find that her (victim) testimony is consistent and beyond creating any reasonable suspicion and shadow of doubt in the truthfulness of her testimony. Similarly, there is no inconsistency in the statement made before this court and the statement given by the prosecutrix before the police,” according to the judge.
