Allahabad HC upholds life sentence given to two men in 7-yr-old's gang rape case

The Allahabad High Court recently upheld the life imprisonment given to two men in a 7-year-old girl's gang rape case. Court said, "The victim was of the age of a girl child of the accused persons, even then they committed such cruel, merciless, illegal and uncivilized act with her".

The division bench Justice Suneet Kumar and Justice Umesh Chandra Sharma passed the order in the appeal moved by the three convicts— Lal Jeet, Tej Bahadur and Chintu @ Tej Prakash against the order of the trial court whereby they had been convicted under Section 376(2) (g) of IPC and were awarded life imprisonment and Rs.10,000 fine each.

Among the three, Lal Jeet had died, therefore, the appeal so far as Lal Jeet was concerned, stood abated.

The facts of the case, in brief, were that the father of the victim minor lodged an FIR that on September 30, 2010, his daughter, a student of class-3, was playing outside the house at around 7 pm when the accused persons on the pretext of bringing gutkha carried her to a drain in the village and forcibly raped her.

When the victim minor did not return home for a long time, her parents along with other villagers went to search for her and upon hearing her scream from the side of the drain, they found that Lal Jeet and Chintu were catching hold of the victim and Tej Bahadur was raping her. Seeing everyone, the accused persons ran away leaving the victim covered in blood.

The accused trio was then booked under Section 376 IPC and later, the trial court convicted and sentenced them under Section 376(2)(g) IPC. However, before the trial court, the convicts had denied the prosecution version and alleged that they had been falsely implicated in the matter due to political rivalry and that the injuries to the victim were caused in some other place or in some other manner.

Moving the appeal before the high court, the counsel for the convicts prayed that they were in jail since 2010, and considering their age and future life of them, if the court finds the charges proven beyond reasonable doubt, a lenient view may be adopted so far as sentencing is concerned.

From the record as well as the argument advanced, the high court found that the case was based on direct evidence and from the evidence, the mens rea to commit the alleged offence had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

The division bench observed that it was not a case of rape by a juvenile, a single accused with a mature lady or with a girl who is on the verge of attaining the age of puberty or majority. The victim was not knowing even the nature of the offence, court said. 

Therefore, considering the nature of the injuries, the age of the victim and the accused persons, and the fact that it was a case of gang rape with a little girl, court was of the view that the trial court had rightly imposed the sentence of life imprisonment.

Court also emphasized that at present the victim is a 19-year-old unmarried girl and the convicts are residents of a nearby village. "If the sentence is reduced and they are released, social and personal safety problems may cause serious prejudice to the victim," the court opined. 

Accordingly, court upheld the order of punishment and sentence by the trial court while stating that no interference was warranted.

Case Title: Lal Jeet and Tej Bahadur v. State of UP and Another connected matter

Statute: Section 376(g) of Indian Penal Code