New Delhi:
A Delhi court today sentenced a 23-year-old youth to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a domestic help in a house where he was working as a servant.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on Pramod, a native of Madhubani in Bihar, after holding him guilty of raping the maid in a house here in October 2010 and observed that the offence committed by him was grave.
"It has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the convict (Pramod) committed rape upon prosecutrix who was working as a maid servant in the same house where he was also employed as servant. The offence proved to have been committed by convict is certainly grave in nature," Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja said.
The court also observed that due to his financial status, Pramod would not be able to pay compensation to the victim and recommended that she be given adequate compensation as per the provisions of the CrPC.
It said the quantum of compensation to be awarded to the girl under the victim compensation scheme would be decided by the Delhi Legal Services Authority.
According to the police, a complaint was lodged by the victim on October 17, 2010 alleging that she belonged to a village in Jharkhand and used to work as a domestic help at a house in central Delhi from one month prior to the incident.
She said that Pramod was also working there as a servant and he had raped her in the house after which she told her sister and the house owner about the incident, police said.
It also said that during the investigation, non-bailable warrant was issued against Pramod after he was found evading arrest and he was also declared as a proclaimed offender. Pramod had surrendered before the court on November 30, 2011.
During the trial, Pramod claimed he was falsely implicated in the case.
The judge, however, convicted him for the offence under section 376 (rape) of the IPC saying the prosecution has been able to prove that he had raped the girl.