HIMACHAL HC GIVES LIFE TERM TO 25-YEAR-OLD RAPE ACCUSED

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh high court on Tuesday sentenced a 25-year-old rape accused for life imprisonment for raping a 13-year-old girl in 2009.

A division bench comprising justice Rajiv Sharma and justice Vivek Singh Thakur on August 17 convicted the accused under Section 376 (rape), 306 (abetment of suicide), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The accused had raped the victim in December 2009, when she was in Class 8 and returning from school.

The victim reported the incident to her family and in January 2010, she committed suicide. It was observed by the court that accused abetted her to commit suicide.

“The prosecution has duly proved that accused had raped the deceased. He also abetted and instigated the suicide by the prosecutrix by hanging at her grandmother’s place. The accused has illegally confined the prosecutrix and has also criminally intimidated her,” the judgment dated August 17 read.

Accused is in Nahan jail as a lower court has sentenced him to 20 years for abduction and under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The high court denied taking lenient view in present case. “A lenient view can’t be taken. Consequently, the convict is sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay a fine of `50,000 for offence committed under section 376,” the judgment read. He is also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and to pay a fine of `50,000 for the commission of offence under Section 306 IPC.

Accused is further, sentenced to undergo one month’s rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of `5,000 for the commission of offence under Section 341 of the IPC.