Trial court decides rape case in nine days

While the nation debates the need to devise mechanisms to reduce crime against women, a trial court in Hoshiarpur district on Thursday set a precedent by disposing of a rape case within nine days of filing of the challan.

Additional Sessions judge, J.S. Bhinder while deciding the case awarded 10-year imprisonment to a person identified as Pawan Dubey for abducting and raping a minor girl. The convict is a resident of Ambala Shri Duar in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the case registered by the police in Garshankar sub-division in August last year, the 17- year-old girl from Bagwai village was abducted by Dubey and two others. She was first taken to Amritsar and then to Delhi.

The victim alleged that she was raped many times and abductors threatened to kill her brother if she resisted. However, she managed to reach home and reported the matter to the police.

Dubey and two others were arrested on September 3, while the police completed investigations and filed the challan before the court on January 2, this year. The court relied on the testimony of the victim and the evidence provided by the police to find Dubey guilty. The other two were acquitted.

Dubey who was convicted under different sections of the IPC, was awarded 10-year imprisonment for rape, seven years for abducting a woman after inducing her for marriage and five years for kidnapping. The sentences would run concurrently.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 90,000 of which Rs. 50,000 would have to be paid to the victim as compensation under section 357(b) of Cr.PC.