UT constable convicted of rape

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 9

A UT constable was today convicted in a rape case by Additional District and Sessions Judge Anshu Shukla. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on December 14.

According to the complainant, who was in her early thirties at the time of the incident, Avtar Singh, along with three or four other persons, took her in a car to different places where he sexually exploited her in November 2006.

She was also taken to a room, which was bolted from outside by three men and a woman. Later, Avtar raped her. However, she did not remember where exactly she was taken to. She said she was in love with him and wanted to marry him. The constable got married in 2007 and has two children.

According to the defence, neither was an FIR registered nor was a medical examination conducted in the case. Also, no eyewitnesses were presented in the court. The defence further contended that the victim alleged that she was raped in 2006 in a car and provided its registration number. However, when the number was checked from  the Registering and Licensing Authority, it came to light that the said vehicle was registered in 2007. No such registration number existed in 2006.

The woman had earlier approached the police, but no FIR was registered. She then went to the Punjab and Haryana High Court which dismissed the application. Later, the woman filed a private complaint under Section 156 (3) of the CrPC in the District Courts.

Victim has a chequered past

A witness and senior officer of a government department, where the victim works as a peon, deposed before the court that the department had chargesheeted and censured her for filing false complaints against staff members. He further deposed that she was chargesheeted for fighting with staff, creating a ruckus, giving false complaints and causing disruption in work. It was also submitted in the court that 50 staff members had given a complaint against her.