HC sets aside life term of man in rape, murder charge

The Delhi High Court has set aside the life imprisonment awarded to a man for raping and killing a 60-year-old woman, whom he used to call his mother.
A division bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mukta Gupta set aside a trial court order which had awarded life term to Achey Lal for allegedly raping the woman while he was in an inebriated state, resulting in her death.
"It is proved beyond reasonable doubt from the postmortem report that the woman too had consumed alcohol before she was subjected to sexual intercourse.
"Achey Lal, even if held guilty for causing the offence of rape, cannot be held guilty of murder as he neither had any intention nor knowledge that such a forceful act of sexual intercourse would cause the death of the woman. Consequently, he is acquitted for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC," the judge said.

The court, while allowing the appeal of Achey against his conviction and sentence, also acquitted him of the charges of rape saying, "As regards the offence punishable under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC, the woman was aged over 60 years, thus beyond the age of menopause.
"We find force in the contention of the counsel for the appellant (Achey) that even if the sexual intercourse was forceful, it was not forcible and contrary to the wishes and consent of the deceased.

"Hence we are of the opinion that it has not been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant committed sexual intercourse with the deceased contrary to her wishes or her consent. Consequently he is also acquitted of the rape charge," the bench said.

The trial court had in 2011 awarded rigorous life term to Achey and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him saying, "he committed forceful sexual intercourse upon a lady older than his age whom he used to call his mother".
According to the prosecution, the woman, who was working as a domestic help in houses in Majnu Ka Tila locality in north-Delhi, was found dead at her residence in December 2010 and one empty bottle of whisky was found near her body.