The Delhi High Court has commuted life imprisonment to seven years rigorous jail term to a man convicted for raping and marrying a woman without disclosing his existing first marriage.
A bench of Justices S P Garg and C Hari Shankar said “a punishment of seven years rigorous imprisonment, with proportionate reduction of fine, would be more than sufficient, to deter Mahendra (offender) from indulging in such sexual adventurism in future”.
“The conviction of Mahendra under Sections 493 and 495 of the IPC, and the corresponding sentence awarded to him, therefore, by the learned ASJ in the impugned judgement and order, are set aside. The conviction of Mahendra under Section 376 of the IPC is, however, upheld,” the bench said.
Read the judgement here.
-India Legal Bureau