Blind man gets 10-yr jail for raping blind widow

A Gurgaon district court on Monday awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment to a blind man, a trainee probationary officer at a public sector bank, who was found guilty of raping a 33-year-old blind widow repeatedly on the pretext of marriage.

The court also imposed a penalty on convict Saurabh Kapoor, 35, who was convicted of rape under Section 376 of the IPC.

Additional Sessions Judge Rajni Yadav, while pronouncing the quantum of sentence, said that given the inhumanity of the act, it was required to impose upon the convict substantive and stern sentence that would commensurate with the gravity of the offence and also serve as an example to others.

It is to be noted that since both the victim and the accused were blind, the court had relied upon ‘voice identification’ that helped the woman to identify Kapoor, a resident of Mayur Vihar in Delhi.

On the pretext of meeting an advocate, Kapoor had taken the victim on May 30, 2015, to a guest house in Gurgaon and raped her there for the first time. He later continued to abuse her, promising marriage.

The victim, who has an eightyear-old daughter, worked in a private company in 2015, when the incident happened. She is currently unemployed.

Public prosecutor Arvind Sharma said that the convict tried to seek leniency from the court on account of his blindness.

“The accused also argued that he is a government servant and highly qualified, but all these arguments were rejected by the court, which awarded him 10 years of imprisonment,” said Sharma, adding that the court has imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000, out of which Rs 8,000 would go to the victim. The remaining Rs 2000 would go to the state. If the accused fail to pay the fine, he will face one more year of imprisonment.

The judge, in her order, also stated that undue sympathy to impose inadequate sentence to the accused would do more harm as it will undermine the public confidence.

“Keeping in view the offence committed by the convict, I am not inclined to take a lenient view against him and release him on probation. He has raped a young woman who was helpless, defenceless, vulnerable and an easy prey who trusted the convict so much that she surrendered herself to him. He used, violated and exploited her body,” the court said.

District attorney Lal Singh Yadav said the court has given a strong message to the society. “The convict had sexually exploited the victim on the pretext of marriage,” he said.

I am not inclined to take a lenient view against him. He has raped a helpless, defenceless, vulnerable woman, who trusted him so much that she gave herself to him. RAJNI YADAV, Addl Sessions Judge