Karnataka doctor gets 10 years RI for raping woman on promise of marriage

KOLHAPUR: A fast-track special court has convicted and sentenced a doctor (38) to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for ‘repeatedly raping' a woman between Dec 31, 2016, and March 2, 2018, by ‘dishonestly inducing her to keep physical relations with him on the false promise of marriage.'Apart from finding the doctor guilty of offences under sections 376 (rape) and 420 (cheating), fast-track special judge Shailendra Tambe convicted the accused for the offence under section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code for threatening the victim with dire consequences and with uploading her photos in a compromising position on social media.The court sentenced the doctor to one year and two years of rigorous jail for cheating and criminal intimidation offences, respectively. "All sentences are to run concurrently," the court said.The doctor, who hails from Gulbarga in Karnataka, was working with a prominent hospital in Bengaluru during the time when the offence took place. He had secured an anticipatory bail from a Kolhapur court after the woman lodged a complaint of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation against him with the Karveer police station on April 18, 2018.A day before the judgment, pronounced on Feb 26, the police took the doctor into custody from Gulbarga and produced him before a local court which sent him to the Kalamba jail under judicial custody.According to the case put up by public prosecutor Pratibha Jadhav, the woman's family were in discussions regarding her marriage and had forwarded her biodata to an agent through whom they came in contact with the doctor. The two started chatting with each other on the phone for a month.The prosecution case was that on Dec 31, 2016, the doctor took the woman from her home on a trip to celebrate New Year in Goa and on the pretext of introducing her to his parents. The two stayed in a South Goa resort till Jan 2, 2017, during which the doctor forced the woman into a physical relationship and took her photos and videos in a compromising position, the prosecution stated.Subsequently, the two met multiple times in Bengaluru where, the prosecution said, the doctor forced her into physical relation and whenever she would ask about their marriage, he would keep postponing the same, the prosecution said. It was only when the woman reached Bengaluru on March 2, 2018, that the doctor told her that his marriage had been arranged with another woman. He threatened the victim against pursuing their marriage issue, the prosecution said. The woman underwent severe mental agony and had to take a prolonged treatment for depression because of this, the prosecution said.The prosecution examined total 10 witnesses, including the woman, her father and brother, and two medical officers, besides presenting evidence like seizure panchanama of mobile phone, hotel booking receipts, online hotel bookings, victim's statement recorded under section 164 CrPC before a magistrate, medical examination report for sexual assault, spot panchanamas and forensic medical examination of the accused, among others.The court, after appreciating all the evidence on record and deposition by the witnesses, held, "It is found that the accused took advantage of the nature of the victim. The victim blankly believed and trusted the accused, but after two years of physical relations with the victim, the accused refused to marry her and cheated, committing breach of trust of the victim.""The prosecution has duly proved the ingredients of sections 376, 420 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code i.e. repeated sexual intercourse with the victim by giving false promises of marriage," judge Tambe said.The court noted that the victim was not married or trying to marry while the accused was trying to marry with another woman as was evident from his wedding card proved by the investigating officer (IO). "In the present case, the accused has given false promise of marriage and kept physical relations and raped on the victim, which is duly proved by examining the victim, her father and brother, medical officers, spot & seizure panch and IO.The court dismissed the defence argument that the doctor was implicated in a false case to extract money from him. It noted that the victim belongs to a well-to-do educated family.(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)