A 55-year-old man, convicted for raping a woman who was his tenant, has been sent to jail for 10 years by a Delhi court which said that statement of the victim about the incident was “convincing” and “trustworthy“.

The special fast-track court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on convict Hari Chand who was held guilty for raping his 30-year-old tenant here in November 2009.

“In the witness box, she (complainant) has withstood the test of cross-examination and her testimony is consistent throughout. The version of the witness on the core spectrum of the crime has remained intact.

“On careful perusal and analysis, her testimony is found to be natural, cogent, convincing, trustworthy and inspires confidence. There is nothing in her statement to suggest that she had any animus against the accused (Chand) to falsely implicate him in the case,” Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) M C Gupta said.

According to the police, an FIR was lodged in November 2009 against Chand, a resident of Sultanpuri here, on a complaint by the woman who had alleged that she along with her family was living in a rented accommodation in his house at Rohini.

The woman had said that Chand used to live in another house at Sultanpuri and he used to come to her house as they had not paid the rent for over two months.

She had alleged that once when she was alone in her house, Chand came there to ask for rent and “forcibly” established physical relations with her and also told her not to disclose about it to anyone.

The police told the court that due to shame, the woman did not disclose about it to anyone but on November 13, 2009, when she was alone in her house, Chand again came there on the pretext of collecting rent and when she told him her husband was not at home, he raped her. She then lodged a complaint against Chand.

During the trial, Chand had claimed that he was implicated in the case and his counsel told the court that statement of the woman was “self-contradictory”.

Chand’s counsel had argued that his client was called by the woman’s husband in a “pre-planned manner” to collect rent and when he reached there, the woman called police and levelled false charges against him.

The court, however, convicted Chand while relying on the statements of prosecution witnesses, including the victim, and the forensic evidence.

“I am of the considered opinion that as far as involvement of accused Hari Chand in the commission of the offence under section 376 (rape) of the IPC is concerned, the same is sufficiently established by the cogent and reliable evidence and in the ultimate analysis, the prosecution has been able to bring the guilt home to the accused Hari Chand beyond shadows of all reasonable doubts...,” the judge said.

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