A Delhi Police employee has been jailed for 15 years for raping and cheating a woman by concealing his first marriage, by a court here which said that sentence for "outrageous crimes like rape and bigamy" must be a deterrent so that no one dares to engage in such acts.
"The crimes of rape and bigamy are the most-hated crimes in the society. Society wants and expects perpetrators of such crimes to be punished very sternly. It is necessary for courts to consider expectations of society while sentencing offenders who have committed outrageous crimes like rape and bigamy....
"The punishment for these offences should be deterrent to the extent that no other member of society dares to engage in such crimes....," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhatt said.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs three lakh on convict Ravi Rathi, who had developed intimacy with the victim in a police training college here in 2009.
He secretly married the victim in October 2013 after which it was found that Rathi had already married another woman in May the same year.
"The convict has not only ruined the entire life of the prosecutrix but also has deceived and cheated upon his first wife. He has played with the emotions and sentiments of the two women. He does not appear to have any concern and respect for women and the marriage vows," the court said.
It also said the convict seemed to be a "sex maniac" and did not deserve to be let off lightly.
"To him (convict) it appears that women are only objects for sex gratification and the marriage is a mere joke. He seems to be a sex maniac and does not deserve to be let off lightly. He deserves an exemplary sentence," the court said.
It said that Rathi did not want to leave the victim and intended to sexually exploit her, while noting that he had two years of courtship with the victim, then deceitfully married another woman and was least interested in marrying the victim.
"He only wanted her physical body to satiate his sexual lust. The prosecutrix would have to live with the mental scar through out her life and it would be almost impossible for her to forget the treatment she got from convict," it said.
The court sentenced Rathi to jail, while holding him guilty of the offences under sections 376 (rape), 495 (bigamy with concealment of former marriage from person with whom subsequent marriage is contracted), 417 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.
