Husband gets 10 years in jail for abetting rape of wife

New Delhi, Nov 24: A Delhi court has sentenced a man to 10 years in jail for abetting rape of his wife by his friend, while relying on the testimony of the victim and her medical report.

Additional Sessions Judge M C Gupta, handed down the jail term to the youth and his friend and rejected their contention of delay in lodging the FIR, saying, "delay in lodging FIR is a normal phenomenon in cases like rape", as the victim is hesitant to report the matter.

"Delay in lodging of FIR is a normal phenomenon especially in cases like rape or outraging the modesty of a woman, the aggrieved/injured person or her relations will naturally think twice before giving a complaint to the police.

"There are several factors which weigh in the mind of the victim and her family members before lodging a complaint," the judge said, while adding that in a "tradition-bound" society in India, it would be unsafe to throw out the prosecution case "merely on this ground".

While relying on the victim's statement, the court said, "On analysing the entire testimony of victim, it transpires that she has described the scenario implicating the accused to be the author of the crime committed upon her... It is cogent, reliable, convincing..."

It also noted that her statement corroborated the findings of her medical report which proved that she was raped and beaten. According to the prosecution, on April 21, 2011, the father of the victim lodged a complaint at Narela Police Station after his 16-year-old daughter could not be traced for nearly 5-6 months.

The police found the girl with the two accused at a railway station here and a case was registered under various sections of the IPC including rape (section 376), it said.

The girl, in her statement before the police, said, that she voluntarily eloped with the youth to marry him. She alleged that her husband used to send her to his friend's place where she was kept under confinement and repeatedly raped and beaten.

The girl further said that on one occasion she tried to escape and made a call to a relative, who then informed her father and the police, after which she was rescued. During the trial, the youth and his friend denied the allegations and said there was a delay in lodging of FIR by her father which shows his malafide intention to falsely implicate him.

PTI