The Supreme Court has reduced the sentence of a man convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl, noting her statement that she is happily married and not interested in pursuing the matter further.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai, P S Narasimha, and Aravind Kumar maintained the man’s conviction under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code while reducing his sentence.
The trial court in Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, initially acquitted the appellant, but the state government appealed, leading to the High Court reversing the acquittal and sentencing the man to rigorous imprisonment for life.
The appellant moved the apex court against the High Court judgment.
The Supreme Court, considering the prosecutrix’s statement that she is happily married and uninterested in pursuing the matter further, upheld the conviction under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The convict had moved the apex court against the Madhya Pradesh High Court
judgment which had said that the man had exploited the victim taking advantage of her poverty.
“The respondent was the guardian of the prosecutrix; his wife has undertaken to educate her and to bring her up. The respondent-accused has exploited the victim taking advantage of her poverty and the fact that his wife has given refuge to the victim for the purposes of education when she was still a student of Class 11th. He has violated her by breach of that confidence,” the high court had said.
The FIR in the case was filed on October 22, 1996, when the victim became pregnant, and the accused and his wife offered Rs 10,000 to facilitate her abortion.