Nepali labourer gets double jail term for rape, murder of 84-yr-old

AMRITSAR : The court of Gurdaspur sessions judge Ramesh Kumari has sentenced a Nepali labourer, Satinder Rout, 30, to 25-year imprisonment and life term in jail, separately, for raping and strangulating an 84-year-old woman to death in March 2019.

That day, she was alone in the house.

Sohan Singh, the victim’s son, discovered her body about 9am the next day.

The convict worked at a farm close to the victim’s residence and had been deployed by the then sarpanch of Kotli Harchanda village.

The trial has been completed in two years and four months, in spite of recurrent lockdown and virtual hearings during the Covid-19 pandemic.

After completing this 25-year long imprisonment, the convict will undergo imprisonment for life and pay Rs 25,000 as fine. If he defaults on paying the fine, he will have to undergo additional simple imprisonment for another eight months.

“All substantive sentences shall run separately, one followed by another,” said district attorney Amanpreet Singh Sandhu, public prosecutor in this case.

The court declined his request for death sentence, observing that this would be a severe punishment, in spite of gravity of the crime.

“There is no research that suggests that the severity of punishment acts as a deterrent, certainty of punishment to the offender certainly acts as deterrent,” the court maintained.

The court observed that the old woman was subjected to barbaric treatment, showing extreme depravity by the convict that leads to a sense of revulsion in the mind of a common man.

“This case is an example that the dignity, person, and life of a woman is not safe within the four walls of her house. The rapist and murderer is not concerned with the age, colour, creed, caste, race, dress, life-style choices, urban or rural background or even with the deep wrinkles on her face and body,” the court added.

The case had grabbed headlines, when it came to light and the police had arrested the Nepali, Rout, on the next day of the heinous crime.

During investigation, Rout’s hair and pieces of his jacket were found in the nails of the woman. The samples from the head, hair and private parts of the accused matched those on the victim’s body and clothes in the DNA test.

AFTER COMPLETING A 25-YEAR LONG IMPRISONMENT, THE CONVICT WILL UNDERGO IMPRISONMENT FOR LIFE AND PAY ₹25,000 AS FINE