Man convicted of raping minor, leaving her pregnant in 2017

JAMSHEDPUR: A local court here on Wednesday convicted a man accused of raping a minor girl repeatedly and leaving her pregnant in 2017, which had led to the Jharkhand High Court (HC) holding special hearing on a Sunday evening and order abortion of victim’s unborn child.

“The court of additional district judge (ADJ-5) Subhas convicted the accused Uday Gagrai today for repeatedly raping the 12-year-old girl for four months in 2017, resulting in her six-month pregnancy. The court would pronounce its sentence on Thursday and we would seek life sentence for the accused for this heinous act,” Ranjan Dhari Singh, advocate representing the girl said.

Uday Gagrai was arrested in September 2017 by Birsanagar police on charges of raping a 12-year-old girl in his neighbourhood. Later, police investigation found that Uday was raping the girl for four months and the victim got six-month-pregnant in the process.

“I had moved the HC requesting to allow the victim to undergo abortion in view of her tender age, frail health and future. A special bench had sat on Sunday evening at 7 pm to hear my petition and finally ordered her abortion under medical board in RIMS, Ranchi. The then Jamshedpur deputy commissioner (DC) and senior superintendent of police (SSP) had taken her to RIMS under special security and care as ordered by the HC,” said Singh.

According to Singh, the victim originally hailed from a village in Bundu .

“At the beginning, the victim and her family were reluctant in filing case and fighting it out in court. But I, along with some of my social worker friends persisted and finally justice was delivered,” said Singh.

TUITION TEACHER CONVICTED OF RAPING MINOR STUDENT

Meanwhile, the court of ADJ-5 Subhas sentenced a tuition teacher Santosh Kumar life imprisonment on charge of raping his minor student on Tuesday.

The court has also imposed a fine of ₹50, 000 on Santosh.

The court pronounced its order after eight witnesses recorded their statements in the court, confirming the charges.