Man gets 10 yrs jail for raping mentally-challenged girl

A Delhi court today sent a 23-year -old man to 10 years in jail for raping a mentally-challenged girl, who got separated from her family during a spiritual programme, saying he took advantage of vulnerability of the victim.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kaveri Baweja awarded the rigorous jail term to Delhi resident Durgesh Pandey saying he committed the offence of rape as he had manipulated the girl's body in such a manner to cause penetration.
"Victim was mentally disabled. Convict by taking advantage of vulnerability of victim, rape her, as he was found lying upon her and as per testimonies of eyewitnesses, victim was in nude condition and accused had lowered his pants," the court said and relied on the testimonies of eyewitnesses.

It also said that "accused is guilty of rape though there is no evidence of penetrative sexual assault by him".
The court held Pandey guilty of the offences punishable under sections 376(2)(j) (raping a woman who was incapable of giving consent) and 376(2)(l) (raping a woman suffering from mental or physical disability) of the IPC.
The court took note of the fact that victim identified her perpetrator before it but her statement could not be considered as she was unable to narrate the entire incident due to her mental disability.

"The accused had manipulated the body of the girl in such a manner to cause penetration and to my mind thereby committed offene of rape as defined under section 375 (c) (a man is said to have committed rape if he manipulates any part of a woman's body so as to cause penetration) of the IPC," it said.

The incident was reported to the police by a DTC bus driver who said that at 12.30 AM, on November 14, 2014, he was returning home on his motorcycle and on reaching the outer ring road, he saw that a man was lying upon a girl near a foot path at Gopalpur in north Delhi.
He said the girl was in naked condition and he called his uncle at the spot and tried to remove the man from there but the accused did not move after which they called the police and he was arrested.