Rape sentence cut after pact

TT, New Delhi, March 6: The Supreme Court has reduced a rapist's sentence to the "period already undergone" citing special circumstances as the incident is 20 years old and the convict and victim have reached an understanding.

Ravindra, who has spent about six years in prison, will therefore not need to serve out his entire 10-year sentence, imposed by a sessions court in Indore for the August 1994 assault.

The apex court said it was invoking Section 376(2)(g) of the penal code, which allows rape sentences to be cut to less than 10 years under special circumstances.

"The incident... had taken place 20 years ago. The victim (prosecutrix) and the accused have entered into a compromise stating therein that the prosecutrix does not want to proceed with the case against the accused and wants to close the case," the bench of Justices M.Y. Eqbal and P.C. Ghose said.

"Both of them are married (not to each other) and have settled in life. Learned counsel for the appellant (convict) contends that this is an 'adequate and special reason' for awarding lesser sentence."

The bench, however, rejected Ravindra's claim of having been falsely implicated and upheld his conviction.

According to the prosecution, the victim was working in the field of the convict when she was raped. After Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the trial court sentence, Ravindra had moved the apex court.

During the hearing of the appeal, Ravindra reached an understanding with the victim to the effect that neither was keen to proceed with the 20-year-old case, and both wanted to move on with their lives.