Retired cop gets 10 years for raping woman in custody
13 March 2013 5:41 AM IST
A retired Delhi Police official has been sent to 10 years in jail for repeatedly raping a widow in a police station 15 years ago by a fast track court which said he does not deserve leniency as he committed the crime under the ‘shield of his uniform’.
The court also observed that even after the brutal 16 December gang rape prompting the government to take some stern measures, including making amendments in criminal law, incidents of rape continue unabated.
‘One of the reasons may be that sentences handed over to the rapists by judiciary are not deterrent enough. In my opinion, in order to avoid recurrence of the incidents of rape, it is absolutely necessary to ignore insignificant mitigating factors and to impose stringent sentences upon the rape convicts,’ additional sessions judge Virender Bhat said.
Apart from the jail term, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on 70-year-old Brahamjit, who was a sub inspector posted at Jaffarpur Kalan at the time of the incident in 1998, and said, if realised, the amount should be given to the victim.
The court pulled up police for its ‘shoddy and flimsy’ probe in the case to shield their colleague.
‘... The victim, a helpless and lonely widow, was pitted against the whole police department. It would have required intense courage for her to continue struggle against the whole police department and fight for justice to her,’ it said.
The woman, who was 35 at the time of the crime, in her complaint before a magistrate had said that on the night of 12 April 1998, Brahamjit came to her house and illegally took away her son and kept him in custody. He again came to her house on the morning of 20 April and forcibly put her and her daughter into a jeep but left her daughter when the neighbours protested, she said.
The woman said she was confined at the police station till next morning and was raped by Brahamjit repeatedly. He had also threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incident to anyone.
The woman said after she was released, she had informed about the incident to Commissioner of Police, Lieutnant Governor, DCP (south-west), ACP Najafgarh and National Human Rights Commission but no action was taken against the accused.
Later on, she filed a complaint in a court which directed police to register an FIR but the agency gave a cancellation report which was rejected by the magistrate.
The sessions court pulled up IO Sarabjit Singh saying he did not find it necessary to record the statements of the victim and the witnesses cited by her in her complaint.
He instead recorded the statements of officials, who were posted in the police station at that time and on the basis of those statements, he concluded that no such incident ever took place inside the police station, the court said.
‘The probe carried out by Inspector Singh manifestly appears to be partisan and name sake with an object to achieve the pre-decided result.
‘All the police officials concerned including the IO were in favour of shielding the accused, their colleague, from any criminal prosecution. Nobody wanted the truth to come out. Hence a bogus investigation which culminated in the filing of cancellation report,’ the court said.
Brahamjit sought leniency saying he is old and suffering from various diseases and requires a helper.
The court, however, said his old age and long lapse of time is no ground to deal with the convict leniently.
‘The convict does not deserve any sentence less than life imprisonment. However, keeping in view his old age and frail health, I think that sentence of 10 years jail would serve the ends of justice as he may or may not survive for 10 more years from today,’ the judge said.
‘We have been celebrating International Women’s Day for last several years but it seems to be only a lip service to the fairer sex. Can we say today that our ladies folk are safe on roads, at public and work place, etc? The common man considers police station a safe place where he would get protection from the goons on the street. But for the victim herein, the so called protector i.e. police official became the monster and the police station a torture chamber where she was subjected to a barbaric and violent offence like rape. It is said that when the fence starts eating the crop, nobody can save the crop. That is what has happened in this case,’ the court said.
The court also observed that even after the brutal 16 December gang rape prompting the government to take some stern measures, including making amendments in criminal law, incidents of rape continue unabated.
‘One of the reasons may be that sentences handed over to the rapists by judiciary are not deterrent enough. In my opinion, in order to avoid recurrence of the incidents of rape, it is absolutely necessary to ignore insignificant mitigating factors and to impose stringent sentences upon the rape convicts,’ additional sessions judge Virender Bhat said.
Apart from the jail term, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on 70-year-old Brahamjit, who was a sub inspector posted at Jaffarpur Kalan at the time of the incident in 1998, and said, if realised, the amount should be given to the victim.
The court pulled up police for its ‘shoddy and flimsy’ probe in the case to shield their colleague.
‘... The victim, a helpless and lonely widow, was pitted against the whole police department. It would have required intense courage for her to continue struggle against the whole police department and fight for justice to her,’ it said.
The woman, who was 35 at the time of the crime, in her complaint before a magistrate had said that on the night of 12 April 1998, Brahamjit came to her house and illegally took away her son and kept him in custody. He again came to her house on the morning of 20 April and forcibly put her and her daughter into a jeep but left her daughter when the neighbours protested, she said.
The woman said she was confined at the police station till next morning and was raped by Brahamjit repeatedly. He had also threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incident to anyone.
The woman said after she was released, she had informed about the incident to Commissioner of Police, Lieutnant Governor, DCP (south-west), ACP Najafgarh and National Human Rights Commission but no action was taken against the accused.
Later on, she filed a complaint in a court which directed police to register an FIR but the agency gave a cancellation report which was rejected by the magistrate.
The sessions court pulled up IO Sarabjit Singh saying he did not find it necessary to record the statements of the victim and the witnesses cited by her in her complaint.
He instead recorded the statements of officials, who were posted in the police station at that time and on the basis of those statements, he concluded that no such incident ever took place inside the police station, the court said.
‘The probe carried out by Inspector Singh manifestly appears to be partisan and name sake with an object to achieve the pre-decided result.
‘All the police officials concerned including the IO were in favour of shielding the accused, their colleague, from any criminal prosecution. Nobody wanted the truth to come out. Hence a bogus investigation which culminated in the filing of cancellation report,’ the court said.
Brahamjit sought leniency saying he is old and suffering from various diseases and requires a helper.
The court, however, said his old age and long lapse of time is no ground to deal with the convict leniently.
‘The convict does not deserve any sentence less than life imprisonment. However, keeping in view his old age and frail health, I think that sentence of 10 years jail would serve the ends of justice as he may or may not survive for 10 more years from today,’ the judge said.
‘We have been celebrating International Women’s Day for last several years but it seems to be only a lip service to the fairer sex. Can we say today that our ladies folk are safe on roads, at public and work place, etc? The common man considers police station a safe place where he would get protection from the goons on the street. But for the victim herein, the so called protector i.e. police official became the monster and the police station a torture chamber where she was subjected to a barbaric and violent offence like rape. It is said that when the fence starts eating the crop, nobody can save the crop. That is what has happened in this case,’ the court said.
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