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The Supreme Court has accepted a compromise reached between three convicts and their rape victim and reduced their sentence from 10-year RI to three and half years' imprisonment, which the accused have already served.
A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra passed this order on Tuesday, disposing of an appeal filed by Baldev Singh and two others against a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment upholding the trial court's order of 10-year RI and a fine of Rs. 1,000 each.
The prosecution case was that the woman was gang-raped by the three on March 3, 1997.
The Bench said: “Admittedly the appellants have already undergone about 3-1/2 years' imprisonment. The incident is 14-year-old. The appellants and the prosecutrix are married [not to each other]. The prosecutrix has also two children. An application and an affidavit have been filed before us stating that the parties want to finish the dispute, have entered into a compromise on September 1, 2007 and that the accused may be acquitted and now there is no misunderstanding between them.”
Special reasons
The court said: “IPC Section 376 (rape) is a non-compoundable offence. However, the fact that the incident is an old one is a circumstance for invoking the proviso to Section 376 (2)(g) and awarding a sentence less than 10 years, which is ordinarily the minimum sentence under that provision, as we think that there are adequate and special reasons for doing so.”
Higher fine
The judges said: “On the facts of the case, considering that the incident happened in 1997 and that the parties have themselves entered into a compromise, we uphold the conviction of the appellants but we reduce the sentence to the period already undergone in view of the proviso to Section 376 (2) (g), which, for adequate and special reasons, permits imposition of a lesser sentence. However, we direct that each of the appellants pay Rs. 50,000 by way of enhancement of fine to the victim envisaged under Section 376 of the IPC itself. The fine shall be paid within three months. In the event of failure to pay, the enhanced amount will be recovered as arrears of land revenue and given to the victim.”
A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra passed this order on Tuesday, disposing of an appeal filed by Baldev Singh and two others against a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment upholding the trial court's order of 10-year RI and a fine of Rs. 1,000 each.
The prosecution case was that the woman was gang-raped by the three on March 3, 1997.
The Bench said: “Admittedly the appellants have already undergone about 3-1/2 years' imprisonment. The incident is 14-year-old. The appellants and the prosecutrix are married [not to each other]. The prosecutrix has also two children. An application and an affidavit have been filed before us stating that the parties want to finish the dispute, have entered into a compromise on September 1, 2007 and that the accused may be acquitted and now there is no misunderstanding between them.”
Special reasons
The court said: “IPC Section 376 (rape) is a non-compoundable offence. However, the fact that the incident is an old one is a circumstance for invoking the proviso to Section 376 (2)(g) and awarding a sentence less than 10 years, which is ordinarily the minimum sentence under that provision, as we think that there are adequate and special reasons for doing so.”
Higher fine
The judges said: “On the facts of the case, considering that the incident happened in 1997 and that the parties have themselves entered into a compromise, we uphold the conviction of the appellants but we reduce the sentence to the period already undergone in view of the proviso to Section 376 (2) (g), which, for adequate and special reasons, permits imposition of a lesser sentence. However, we direct that each of the appellants pay Rs. 50,000 by way of enhancement of fine to the victim envisaged under Section 376 of the IPC itself. The fine shall be paid within three months. In the event of failure to pay, the enhanced amount will be recovered as arrears of land revenue and given to the victim.”