Punishment for raping minor step daughter cancelled, orders for action against investigating officer

Jaipur, 21 May (HS). The Rajasthan High Court has canceled the seven-year sentence awarded by the city's Sati Prevention Court on February 27, 1992, on charges of raping a minor stepdaughter. Along with this, the court has ordered the DGP to investigate the conduct of the policeman who was the investigating officer in the case and after giving him a chance to be heard, take action as per the rules. A single bench of Justice Anup Kumar Dhand gave this order while accepting the petition filed by the stepfather of the minor.

The court said in its order that there is no provision that statements should be recorded before registering the FIR, but the investigation officer kept the report under investigation and recorded the statements and later registered the FIR. The court said that it is very surprising that rape has been alleged thrice in the incident, but the investigating officer did not consider it necessary to map out the spot and take the victim to the spot. Apart from this, a sample was taken from the victim and sent to FSL, but the report was not presented in the court.

In the petition, advocate Sudhir Jain told the court that the minor's mother had married the petitioner for the second time. He had a minor son and a son from his first marriage. The mother of the minor girl reported to Ramganj police station on June 22, 1990 that her husband raped her minor daughter after finding her alone at home. The report said that the daughter talked about being raped three times by her stepfather. Acting on the report, the police recorded the statements on July 1 and registered an FIR on July 2 and arrested the petitioner. The Sati Prevention Court sentenced him to seven years imprisonment. The petition said that the report was filed two years after the alleged incident. Apart from this, the medical report did not reveal any injury on the victim's body. The minor's mother has also turned hostile in the court. In such a situation, his punishment order should be cancelled. Hearing which, the court canceled the sentence of the petitioner and asked the DGP to take action against the investigating officer.