NEW DELHI: Expressing concern that there has been no let-up in incidents of rape/ gangrape despite punishment for the crimes being made stringent in the aftermath of the horrifying Nirbhaya incident, Supreme Court Monday awarded a 20-year jail term to a rickshaw puller who had raped a woman in 2016 on the pretext of taking her home from New Delhi Railway Station.In its sentencing order, a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Augustine George Masih decided to take a sympathetic approach as the convict was only 25 years of age at the time of commission of offence and had no criminal antecedents. Though the trial court and Delhi High Court had sentenced him to spend the rest of his life in jail, apex court modified the quantum of sentence to a 20year jail term.The rickshaw puller was convicted and sentenced in June 2017, and Delhi High Court upheld the order within six months in Nov. While the convict filed an appeal after eight years, apex court decided the case within seven months. On the first date of hearing on Jan 5, apex court had made it clear that it would not interfere with the conviction order and would only examine the quantum of punishment.The bench said that punishing an offender has a trifold purpose, i.e. punitive, deterrent and protective, and a holistic approach should be taken before deciding the quantum of punishment. “The overall objective is to rid society of criminal proclivity. The same is done by ensuring that the sentence imposed is proportional to the offence or, in other words, not overly influenced by the possibility of reformation and instead, striking a judicious balance between the interest of the victim, society and the accused, after following due process of law,” it said.“In the present case, the appellant convict has no criminal antecedents; was only 25 years old when the offence was committed; given the young age there is a possibility of reformation. The State has neither brought on record anything to show that the same would not be possible, nor has it contravened the statement made on behalf of the appellant that in the nearly 10 years (including remission) that he has been convicted, he has maintained good conduct,” the bench said.The court pointed out that such crimes continue to occur regularly, notwithstanding various amendments to the law to deter potential offenders. While these may have had some positive impact, the need to check such crimes with urgency cannot be understated, it said, citing NCRB data, as per which around 30,000 rape cases were reported in India in 2024.
