A special fast-track court in Kalyan has sentenced a 39-year-old man to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a 15-year-old girl in 2011, while acquitting him of kidnapping charges.
Additional Sessions Judge P P Muley delivered the judgment on Monday in the case involving Azhar alias Badu Mustaq Qureshi, who was accused of taking the minor to Lucknow after she accompanied him from Dombivli in Maharashtra’s Thane district.
Court rejects kidnapping charge
According to the prosecution, the girl had accompanied Qureshi to Lucknow. The court therefore acquitted him of the kidnapping charge, observing that the victim had voluntarily travelled with the accused.
However, the judge noted that the circumstances surrounding the journey indicated prior planning on the part of Qureshi. The court observed that he had purchased a railway ticket using a different name, which it said demonstrated “pre-planned ill intention”.
The court concluded that the evidence pointed to a plan by the accused to establish a physical relationship with the minor.
Conversion not considered voluntary
The judgment also dealt with the victim’s conversion to Islam while she was with the accused. The court observed that she was a minor at the time and, therefore, her participation in the conversion rites could not be regarded as a voluntary act.
The judge noted that although the victim had accompanied Qureshi to Lucknow, her minor status was significant while considering the circumstances of the conversion.
The court further referred to a Supreme Court judgment concerning sexual intercourse with girls below the age of 18 and the applicability of the rape provisions under the Indian Penal Code.
It held that a person who has sexual intercourse with a girl below 18 can be prosecuted for rape under Section 376 of the IPC, including in circumstances where the victim is his wife and falls within the relevant age bracket.
Victim recommended for compensation
The court also rejected any attempt to rely on Exception 2 to Section 375 of the IPC, which concerned the marital rape exception applicable under the law at the relevant time, noting that it could not shield the accused from prosecution in the circumstances of the case.
Qureshi was granted set-off for the period he had already spent in pre-trial detention, from February 5 to September 12, 2012.
The court also recommended the case to the District Legal Services Authority for consideration of compensation for the victim.
According to Additional Public Prosecutor Sachin Kulkarni, the prosecution examined seven witnesses, including the victim, to establish the charges against Qureshi.
The case dates back to 2011, making the conviction and sentencing come around 15 years after the alleged offence.
(With inputs from PTI)
* This article was originally published here
No comments:
Post a Comment