2 guards,aide get 10 years in jail

“The nature of crime amounts to moral delinquency,which shakes the very conscience of the society and takes it further away from the police agencies and shakes the already crumbling faith in police force,” said Justice Ravi Kumar Sondhi.

The accused-Vijender Singh,Dinesh and Ravi-were also slapped with a fine of Rs 14,000 each.

Leaving no room for any leniency,the court held that the men forgot crime could not be concealed because “men can lie but not the circumstances”. DNA evidence in the case helped nail the accused even after the victim had turned hostile before the court in November 2008.

The counsel for the convicts had earlier pleaded that the three were sole breadwinners of their families and hence a lenient view should be taken.

Making a strong note of the crime committed by the “elite commandos” who were supposed to protect the persons under high security,the governor of a state in this case,the court held that it (court) would be failing in its duty if appropriate punishment was not awarded.

The judgment added that the convicts ravished the victim when the helpless woman was returning home after earning her livelihood at odd hours. “The way they chose to wriggle out of their crime by winning over the prosecutrix,taking benefit of her poverty and illiteracy,is proved to be the most aggravating circumstances,” the judge said.

The court said the accused raped her and tried to hush up the matter,and as such were not entitled to any leniency.

The case dates back to February 21,2008,when constable Dinesh of Haryana Armed Force,Vijinder Singh,a commando with the governor’s security,and Ravi Sahai,an electrician from Rohtak who was Dinesh’s guest,were arrested for rape. The three,allegedly in an inebriated state,forcibly took the woman to one of the police quarters allotted to the security staff near the Haryana Raj Bhawan around 1.15 am. The victim,a 40-year-old woman,was employed as a cook with a caterer and was returning home in an auto-rickshaw with her employer,Mahavir,from a function at Rock Garden.