New Delhi:
A Delhi court has sentenced a man to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for raping a woman and said the issue needed to be treated with sensitivity due to increase in incidents of sexual assault of women.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau awarded Furkan Ahmed the prison term and a fine of Rs 52,000 after holding him guilty of rape and criminal intimidation.
The court refused to show any leniency towards the convict noting that he had committed the offence threatening her with a knife and even tried to intimidate her husband during the trial through Ahmed's relative.
In its judgement, the court also expressed concern over the society's growing insensitivity to incidents of rape.
"Of late, crime against women generally and rape in particular is on the increase and ironically society appears to be unconcerned, showing little or no concern for honour of women," the court said.
It noted that the convict committed the rape with 21-year-old "helpless" housewife on the intervening night of November 20 and 21 when she was alone in her house at Saraswati Vihar here with her two-year-old son and while her husband was away for work.
During the arguments on sentence, Public Prosecutor Taufiq Ahmed sought the maximum sentence against the convict saying he had defiled the sanctity of the victim while the counsel for the convict pleaded for lenient view on the ground that he had a family to look after.
The court took into account the conduct of the convict before and after the offence to say "any leniency shown to him would be misplaced. This court is required to treat the issue with more sensitivity".
In its order, the court said out of the total fine of Rs 52,000, a sum of Rs 40,000 would be paid to the victim as compensation.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau awarded Furkan Ahmed the prison term and a fine of Rs 52,000 after holding him guilty of rape and criminal intimidation.
The court refused to show any leniency towards the convict noting that he had committed the offence threatening her with a knife and even tried to intimidate her husband during the trial through Ahmed's relative.
In its judgement, the court also expressed concern over the society's growing insensitivity to incidents of rape.
"Of late, crime against women generally and rape in particular is on the increase and ironically society appears to be unconcerned, showing little or no concern for honour of women," the court said.
It noted that the convict committed the rape with 21-year-old "helpless" housewife on the intervening night of November 20 and 21 when she was alone in her house at Saraswati Vihar here with her two-year-old son and while her husband was away for work.
During the arguments on sentence, Public Prosecutor Taufiq Ahmed sought the maximum sentence against the convict saying he had defiled the sanctity of the victim while the counsel for the convict pleaded for lenient view on the ground that he had a family to look after.
The court took into account the conduct of the convict before and after the offence to say "any leniency shown to him would be misplaced. This court is required to treat the issue with more sensitivity".
In its order, the court said out of the total fine of Rs 52,000, a sum of Rs 40,000 would be paid to the victim as compensation.
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