Teen helps rape survivor mother get justice; accused gets lifer
The special SC/ST court convicted the accused under Section 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 342 (illegal confinement) of the IPC and awarded life imprisonment with ₹60,000 fine, one-year rigorous imprisonment with ₹2,000 fine and six-month jail and ₹500 fine in the three charges, respectively
LUCKNOW A 17-year-old girl walked alongside her mother to a Sitapur court, which on Monday awarded life sentence to the man who had raped and impregnated her mother more than 18 years ago. During the trial, the girl, born out of the incident on April 20, 2006, was produced before the court as key evidence in the rape case.
Her mother, a 35-year-old Dalit woman, was her daughter’s age when she was raped and impregnated by the convict, identified as Anil Tiwari. On Monday, a special SC/ST court sentenced the man to life imprisonment and slapped a fine of ₹62,500 on him, government counsel Arun Kumar Agnihotri said.
Agnihotri said the special SC/ST court convicted the accused under Section 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 342 (illegal confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and awarded life imprisonment with ₹60,000 fine, one-year rigorous imprisonment with ₹2,000 fine and six-month jail and ₹500 fine in the three charges, respectively.
The court also convicted the accused under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
“Anil Tiwari raped the victim with help of Moola Devi (Devi was also made an accused in the case, but she died during trial). Tiwari had threatened the victim after committing the crime. She did not share her trauma with anyone but later narrated her ordeal to one of her neighbours,” the counsel said. “When her father came to know about the incident, she was four months pregnant.
The FIR of rape was registered on October 7, 2006, more than six months after the incident.” By the time the case was registered, her pregnancy had entered an advanced state and could not be terminated.
“No DNA test was conducted to prove that the victim gave birth to a daughter as the accused neither denied the allegation nor sought DNA test during the trial,” the counsel said.
The survivor never got married and kept fighting for justice along with her father, and later along with her daughter.