Man jailed for 10 years for gang-raping destitute woman

NEW DELHI: A man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Delhi court for gang raping a destitute woman along with his accomplice after taking her in a room on the pretext of giving her food and shelter. The court gave the minimum sentence of 10 years, prescribed for the offence of gang rape, to Bhola Rishi considering his poor family background that he was the only bread earner and has to support his wife and kids who live in Bihar. Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat, however, freed co-accused Vishwanath Rai of gang rape charges as through out the trial, the woman maintained her stand that it was not he who raped her and it was someone else who had committed the crime along with Rishi. The court said as per the DNA report, the sample extracted from Rishi has been found similar to the one taken from the woman whereas the DNA extracted from Jai was not found to be similar to the samples of the victim. “Therefore, DNA report corroborated the versions of the woman that she was sexually assaulted by Rishi and not by Rai,” the court said. It imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Rishi. “Even though, as per the testimony of the woman, accused Vishwanath Rai was not along with accused Rishi when she was subjected to rape, yet she clearly states that there were two persons who raped her. Thus it is amply clear that Rishi was accompanied by some other person, who could not be found and arrested, when they raped the woman,” the court said. According to police, the rape incident took place on the intervening night of December 18-19, 2012 when the destitute woman was sleeping at a platform outside a tea stall here when two men asked her as to why she was sleeping outside in winter season and took her to a room. In the room near a factory, the two men gang raped the woman and fled the spot. The next morning when she was feeling unwell, she went to a hospital and narrated the incident to the doctors and a case was registered by the police. Later on, the police arrested Rishi and Rai. While convicting the accused, the judge said he found that the woman has spoken very truthfully before the court and she was a “credible witness”. “If she had to state falsehood, she would not have absolved accused Rai and would have indicted him also,” the court said.   ———— SOURCE: Times of India