Uber cabbie gets life term till death in rape case

The court on October 20 had pronounced Yadav as guilty in the rape case and had convicted him for the offences under sections 376 (2)(m) (while committing rape causes grievous bodily harm or disfigures or endangers life of a woman), 366 (abducting with an intent to compel her for marriage), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (causing hurt) of the IPC and had fixed the case for Tuesday for hearing arguments and pronouncing the punishment.

On Tuesday, the court sentenced Yadav to life imprisonment. The court awarded the maximum sentence for the offence, which endangered the life of the 25-year-old woman. Pronouncing the judgment Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja held that the convict while raping the victim abducted her with an intent to compel her for marriage. “Convict (Yadav) is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life which shall mean imprisonment till his remaining natural life for the offence under section 376 (2)(m) (committing rape causes grievous bodily harm) of the IPC,” the judge said and also imposed a fine of Rs 21,000 on him.

The court also directed the Delhi Legal Services Authority to give compensation to the victim and to take care of the family of the convict. Moments after pronouncement of the judgment, Yadav, his wife, father and two minor daughters started crying inconsolably. His wailing wife also fainted in the courtroom.

The crime incident took place in December last year when the 25-year-old woman hired a Uber cab from Gurgaon to her residence in West Delhi’s Inderlok during the wee hours. According to the police, the woman had dozed off on the back seat of the car, and she woke up to find that the car had stopped at a secluded spot. When she tried to raise an alarm, the driver is said to have assaulted and raped her. Yadav was identified and nabbed soon after the incident.

After the incident, the Delhi government had banned several app-based cab companies and had cancelled the licence application of Uber. However, the government act of cancelling the licence was set aside by the Delhi High Court.