A district court today sentenced a 60-year-old man to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a divorced woman two years ago.
Thane district judge Mridula V K Bhatia, while pronouncing the quantum of sentence this afternoon, also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Harish Samad Ali Shaikh and one more year in jail in case of default.
Additional public prosecutor Buleshwar Hinge had argued that the victim and the accused were neighbours living in Shanti Nagar slum at Kalwa in the district. The victim and the daughter of the accused were friends.
The alleged incident had taken place in September 2014. The victim, who was 26 years old at that time, had got a divorce from her husband, and her minor daughter lived with her mother in Kolkata. The victim lived with her sister, who supported her.
The court was told that the accused, who was jobless, lived with his wife, daughter and two sons.
On the eve of the incident, the daughter of the accused called the victim to her place as her mother and brothers had gone out.
On a request made by her friend, the victim went to sleep at the former's place. Early morning, when his daughter left for work, the accused raped the victim and threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed it to anybody. He also promised to marry the victim. As a result of the rape, the victim got pregnant.
When the victim was six months pregnant, she lodged a complaint against Shaikh as she realised that he would not marry her. He was arrested and booked under IPC Section 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
The victim delivered a baby mid last year, after which a DNA test was conducted. The DNA samples of the newborn matched with that of the accused's.
While convicting the accused, the judge rejected the defence that FIR was filed after a delay. She must have waited for the accused to fulfil his promise of marrying her and eventually decided to file a complaint, the court said.
"Not not only has the accused committed rape, but the prosecutrix will have to live with the stigma of having a child out of wedlock and will also have to provide for him. The sympathy of the court cannot be misplaced," the court said.
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