A Delhi court has sent a 70-year-old man to seven years in jail for raping his 20-year-old maid, observing that no lenient view can be taken towards him on the ground of his age as he should have thought about it before "resorting to such a shameless act".
The court held Narender Mohan Mittal, a resident of Dwarka, guilty of raping the girl and threatening her, and said that the offence of rape becomes "more odious" as it was committed by an elderly person on a young and helpless girl.
"The age and state of health of the convict (Mittal), as canvassed by his counsel do not persuade me to take a lenient view against him. It was for the convict to think about his age, health and family members before resorting to such a shameful act.
"In fact, the age of the convict makes the offence committed by him more diabolical. The offence of rape becomes more odious when it is committed by an elderly person upon a young and helpless girl, who is in his custody," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said.
Mittal has sought leniency saying he was 70-year-old and was suffering from various ailments like diabetes, heart enlargement, blood pressure and osteoarthritis.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him.
According to the prosecution, the girl was raped by Mittal in October, 2012 when his wife, son and daughter-in-law were not at home.
Before the incident, the man was watching an obscene movie on the computer and asked her to fetch some water for him and when she returned, he caught her and raped her, the girl had told the court.
After the incident, the man left the house and locked it from outside so that the girl cannot go out and made a call to her threatening her that she would be killed if she narrated the incident to anybody. (More) PTI SKV
The girl then called up the placement agent, through whom she was employed at Mittal's house, and he took her from there. Later on, the girl told about the incident to one of her friends who was also employed as a maid in another house and on her advice, she informed the police.
The court in its judgement noted that the man had first tried to pacify the girl by offering Rs 50,000 and then threatened her not to disclose the incident to anybody or otherwise, he would kill her.
The court also rejected the contention of the man that he was taking arthritis' medicine which makes a person incapable of indulging in sexual intercourse.
"There is nothing on record to show that the accused is a patient of arthritis disease and is taking 'HSQS' medicine for the same. The accused has not entered the witness box to prove this fact. He has not produced medical documents to establish the same," the court said.
It said Mittal had found a soft target in his maid and satiated his sexual lust upon her and there was nothing on record to show that he was drunk at that time or was not in sound mental state. It said that his act seemed to be well deliberated upon.
"The convict was like a fatherly figure to the girl and she expected him to treat her like his daughter. The girl had come from her native village in Assam in search of some work so that she can earn her livelihood in a dignified manner and she could not have imagined that she would be subjected to such an inhuman and barbaric treatment by the convict.
"Convict was her custodian and was supposed to take care of her but he betrayed the trust reposed in him by the girl by ravishing her," judge said.
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