Rape of woman; youth, his mother get varying jail terms

A Delhi court has sentenced a youth to ten years' rigorous imprisonment for raping a woman and forcefully marrying her, saying he had "trapped" her and the marriage between them "should not come in the way of holding the accused guilty".

The court also sentenced his mother to seven years' imprisonment for abetting the rape and threatening to kill the victim if she resisted.

"It appears that the victim consented to marry the youth only because of the rape incident and therefore it cannot be taken that the marriage between them nullifies the incident of rape," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhatt said, adding the offence of rape is "not compoundable".
 

"The marriage was only for namesake and a tool for him to keep the woman under his control. Thus, in my opinion, the marriage between them should not come in the way of holding the accused guilty," the judge said.

The court handed down the jail terms to the youth and his mother, residents of west Delhi, for the offences of rape (section 376), abetment of rape (376/109) and criminal intimidation (506) under the IPC.

Refusing to take a lenient view towards them, it also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 each on the mother-son duo and directed them to pay it as compensation to the woman.

"The youth had married the woman only to keep her under his control and to satiate his sexual lust upon her. The crime committed by him is extremely abhorrent and serious. He does not deserve any leniency," the court said.

Taking a stern view towards his mother, the court said that being a woman she did not get moved by the tears of the victim.

"The tears and entreaties of the victim did not move her despite the fact that she herself is a lady. A young girl was being ravished brutally by her son and another person. Instead of coming to her rescue, she aided them in commission of their nefarious acts...," it said.

While convicting the duo, the court also noted that the youth had trapped the 20-year-old woman in a love affair and after intoxicating her, raped her at his residence in the presence of his mother, who encouraged him in committing the offence.

Terming the marriage between the youth and the victim as "an eye-wash", the court said, "the victim married him thinking that it will be difficult for her to find a suitable match when she had already been ravished by him and expected that he would prove a good and caring life partner for her but that was not to be.