CHANDIGARH: Finally, after six years
of her death, a rape victim got justice. The poignant tale of a woman, who
committed suicide due to embarrassment, moved a local court that relying on her
dying declaration convicted Rama Shanker of Johnpur in UP for rape and abetment
to suicide. The court of additional district and sessions judge Raj Shekhar
Attri also handed down seven-year imprisonment to Rama besides slapping a fine
of Rs 15,000.
Setting precedence by convicting the accused on the
basis of dying declaration, the court said, “Every sexual assault upon the
prosecutrix was an instigation and abetment to take the drastic step. Her dying
declaration is found to be without any infirmity, suspicion and tutoring and is
hereby accepted. She committed suicide by setting herself afire due to the acts
and conduct of the accused.”
The dying declaration, which was
recorded by judicial magistrate in April 2002, narrated the deplorable incident
that not only ruined her life, but sniffed it too.
The victim, in
her statement, had claimed that in October 2001 her husband Rajinder, a Kajheri
resident, wanted to visit Vaishno Devi Shrine, but he didn’t have
sufficient funds for this purpose.