Terming the act as “barbaric, diabolic and disturbing,” a Delhi court handed down 10 years of imprisonment to a 45-year-old man for raping and trying to strangulate a woman in 2014.
Describing the act of the convict “vile”, the court observed that the woman was subjected to one of the most “reprehensible” crimes.
“The convict in this case has committed the vile act of rape upon the prosecutrix. He also attempted to kill her. It is true that he has a family to support but we must see the plight of the woman, who was subjected to rape, which is universally considered to be amongst the most morally and physically reprehensible crimes in society...
“It is an assault on the body, mind, privacy and the entire fabric of the victim. Her dignity is shredded. The social stigma attached to this crime is such that many a time, a crime would go unreported by the victim,” Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain said.
The court held the convict, who was the driver of the victim’s in-laws, guilty of offences of rape and attempt to murder under the IPC and observed that “he had grudges against his employers and he was looking for an opportunity” to take revenge from them.
“It is true that the woman did not sustain injuries on the vital parts of her body but the facts and circumstances lead to the conclusion that the accused had attempted the said act with the intention to cause her death.
“His act was barbaric, diabolic and disturbing. I agree with the submissions of prosecutor that it is not necessary that every attempt to kill would result into injuries,” the judge said.
The court also said some minor discrepancies in the victim’s statement and complaint was not fatal to the case.
“The victim who suffers from an incident, obviously, is in a state of shock and it is only when she moves in her comfort zone, she starts recollecting the events one by one and thus to stop the victim from elaborating the facts to describe the finer details, if left out earlier, would be too much,” the ASJ said.
According to prosecution on June 24, 2014, the woman, who was living alone in a house, alleged that the driver came to her house asking for water but pounced on her from behind.
He tried to strangulate her with a phone charging cable and then raped her, the woman’s complaint said.