By IANS,
New Delhi : A fast track court here Thursday ordered the release from jail of a 20-year-old youth convicted for kidnapping and raping a minor girl, observing that she willingly eloped and had sexual intercourse with him while the accused had shown remorse at his actions.
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said that the man has already spent about six months in the prison during the trial. It further observed that the youth himself pleaded guilty and from the deposition of the minor, it was evident that the convict had not employed any force or coercion on her.
“The convict is sentenced to the period of imprisonment already gone. He be released from judicial custody,” the judge said in the order.
The court noted that the youth, who showed sense of remorse has to be held guilty because of the age of the victim, but needs to be given lesser punishment because of conduct of the victim herself in the whole affair coupled with accused himself coming forward to plead guilty.
The youth had kidnapped the girl on Aug 16 last year and had raped her. On Aug 18 a kidnapping case was lodged against the him by the parents of the girl, according to the prosecution.
The court said: “The prosecutrix has deposed she ran away with accused on Aug 16, 2012 on her own volition. She further deposed that thereafter they had sexual intercourse with her consent. It is, therefore, manifest the convict had not employed any force or coercion upon the prosecutrix and she was a willing party to the elopement and sexual intercourse.
“However, matters became difficult for the convict only because of the age of the prosecutrix. She was less than 16 years of age at that time as admitted by the convict. The accused has been convicted as he pleaded guilty to the charges framed against him, showing a sense of remorse,” it added.