Victim’s honour has been spoiled forever, says court

Aneesha Sareen

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 16

Asserting that the honour of the minor girl had been spoiled by the accused forever and such crimes needed to be dealt with a stern hand, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Anshu Shukla today sentenced a 19-year-old youth, Vijay, alias Vicky, to 10-year imprisonment in a case of rape, illegal abortion, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
The court also sentenced a Mohali gynaecologist, Dr Rashmi Jain, to three-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on her. The court also sentenced Shanti and Sunita, the accused’s mother and sister, respectively, to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 each on them. The accused have been convicted under Sections 376, 120-B, 313 and 201 of the IPC. While pronouncing the order, the court stated that such types of crimes against women were increasing in society at an alarming speed. “The offence of rape is an offence not only against the victim but against society as well. The court cannot take such types of crimes lightly. To curb and discourage the commission of sexual assaults, the courts should deal with perpetrators of such offence with a stern and heavy hand. The act committed by the accused is highly condemnable,” said the court in the order.
The case
The case was registered on February 23, 2013, when the mother of a 14-year-old mentally challenged girl, a resident of Sector 56, had complained to the police that her daughter, who is afflicted with polio, was raped by their neighbour, Vicky. After her daughter remained unwell for some days, the mother and Sunita (the convict's sister) took the girl to a private clinic run by Dr Rashmi Jain in Phase I, Mohali, where it came to light that the girl was five months' pregnant.
Later, the girl, a student of Class IV, told her mother that she had been raped by Vicky. When the mother approached Vicky's family, they threatened her.
The prosecution stated that on February 21 last year, in the mother's absence, Sunita and Shanti allegedly took the victim to Rashmi's clinic again and got her pregnancy terminated. Upon return, the victim's mother found her bleeding and took her to the government hospital in Phase VI, Mohali, where the abortion came to light and the police were informed. The accused were then arrested. Rashmi's clinic was also raided where some incriminating documents were found.

Ample evidence

In the detailed judgment, the court said: “The prosecution has proved beyond the shadow of reasonable doubt that the accused, Vijay, alias Vicky, has committed sexual intercourse and raped the prosecutrix. The accused, Sunita and Shanti, joined hands with Dr Rashmi Jain to cause evidence to disappear by hatching a criminal conspiracy. Accused Sunita and Shanti also threatened the complainant that she would have to face dire consequences if she reported the matter to the police.”

Probe defective, but won't benefit accused: Court

The court stated that it was a settled proposition of law that in case the investigation was defective, its benefit did not go to the accused because a defect in the investigation by itself could not be a ground for acquittal. “If privacy is given to negligent investigation or to the omission or lapses by perfunctory investigation, the faith of the people in the criminal justice administration would be eroded. The defect in the investigation or omission on the part of the investigating officer cannot prove to be of any advantage to the accused,” said the court.
The defence counsel version that the victim left the government hospital, Sector 16, on her own and rather ran away without telling anybody is quite indigestible and does not hold water. Even if the victim was to run away from the hospital, why did she get herself admitted there? A mentally and physically challenged minor girl can neither think of nor undertake steps as put forward by the defence counsel. The defence had pleaded with evidence that the victim had slipped from the hospital and the abortion was done after that and the police failed to properly investigate the case.