Two jailed for gangraping minor in moving car

New Delhi, Feb 24: Two youths have been sentenced to varying jail terms by a court for kidnapping and gangraping a minor girl in a moving car, to take revenge on her sister.

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau awarded life term to 24-year-old Manoj and 10 years of jail to 24-year-old Amit for gangraping and threatening the 12-year-old victim after they failed to find her elder sister whom they wanted to teach a lesson.

"It is writ large that not finding the woman (victim's sister), Manoj targeted her younger minor sister hardly aged 12 years. This incident being a rape for purpose of revenge, only to teach a lesson to two other women cannot be over- looked and hence Manoj deserves no leniency," the court said.

The judge noted that Manoj was in a live-in relationship with a woman who was the friend of minor victim's sister and due to some disputes between the live-in couple, they used to frequently approach police.

"In front of the police the victim's sister would take the side of her friend and perhaps it is for this reason that Manoj decided to teach a lesson to her. It is evident from the record that when the victim was going to the market (on February 6 last year) and met Manoj he first asked for her sister. However, after some time he instead took her away," the court said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 on Manoj and Rs 20,000 on Amit. According to the prosecution, on the evening of February 6, the victim told him that her sister was at home and he could meet her there as they were known to each other but, in the meantime, the other accused Amit came there in a car and Manoj forcibly pushed her inside the vehicle.

Police said that both the accused had threatened the minor not to raise an alarm and Manoj raped her inside the car while driving through an isolated area. Thereafter, Amit took the girl to various places and after raping her dropped her in Mangolpuri area.

The girl's family contacted police after she failed to The girl's family contacted police after she failed to return home in the evening. As Manoj also worked as a police informer, the officials sought his help in searching the victim.

The girl was later found around midnight after her sister called at her mobile phone and she told her location, police said. Both the accused were arrested after the victim told her family about the incident.

The court rejected the plea of both the convicts that they were falsely implicated in the case saying medical and forensic evidence had proved that they had raped the girl. It also observed that since Manoj was a police informer, even the investigation by the probe agency was "extremely casual".

So far as convict Manoj is concerned, he was the informer of local police and had taken undue advantage of that status and felt that he was above the law.

"This court has also observed that even police has been most indulgent and the investigation conducted were extremely casual and the possibility of this being so only to help the informer i.e. convict Manoj cannot be ruled out," the judge said.

PTI