HC upholds life term for main convict

The accused,Rahul and Amit,were held guilty of raping a medical student by a trial court in January 2005. The victim,a fourth-year student of MAMC,was raped at knife-point on the terrace of Mughal-era monument Khooni Darwaza in Central Delhi on November 14,2002.

The court relied on the victim’s testimony,DNA tests and other circumstantial and medical evidence to nail the convict.

“It is settled law that where testimony of a rape witness stands the scrutiny of credibility,there is no need to look for any corroboration”,the court said as the defence tried to shake the victim’s testimony on the grounds of delay in registration of FIR.

In its arguments,the defence had said that the convict’s age should be taken into consideration — Rahul was around 19 years when he committed the offence.

“No doubt,his age is a mitigating factor but the brutal manner in which the prosecutrix was traumatised,how during rape his knife was continuously used to threaten her,and the entire sequence of events as disclosed by her show the extreme trauma inflicted upon her by Rahul,who not only acted as a beast but even acted savage,” the court observed. “Thus,we see no scope to reduce the sentence imposed upon Rahul.”