Sunday, August 7, 2011

Aug 7, 2011: Man gets 7-year term for raping minor

TNN | Aug 7, 2011, 04.19AM IST
NEW DELHI: A trial court has sentenced a 28-year-old man, father of three children, to a seven-year jail term for raping a minor girl and fathering her child with the false assurance that he would marry her.

Terming the case "a saga of lies, lust, treachery, tricks, sex and cheating", additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said, "The accused, by suppressing the fact of his earlier marriage, emotionally, psychologically, financially and physically exploited a young teenager since the age of 14 to 15 years and fathered her child when she was hardly 17 years of age."

While convicting and sentencing northwest Delhi resident Satish Bhati, the court empathized with the girl's plight saying Bhati took advantage of her tender age and the absence of any male member in her family and even got her properties transferred to himself. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him, stipulating that, if recovered, it should be given to the victim.

The court said Bhati cheated two women simultaneously. On the one hand, he cheated his wife by having an extramarital affair and on the other, he exploited the victim physically, financially and emotionally. "Wanting to have the best of both worlds, the accused is now in a hot soup, a situation which he did not contemplate," the judge said.

The court also termed the consent obtained from the girl "tainted" and based on deception. Bhati admitted that he had a relationship with the victim and that he fathered her child, but said it was consensual.

According to the prosecution, Bhati was a tenant at the victim's house. He lured her and came closer to her after her father's death. The court noted that the girl was below 16 years of age when Bhati started to have sexual relations with her. It was too late when she found out that he was already married and had children from his first wife as she had become pregnant by that time.

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