A 38-year-old man was awarded life imprisonment for raping a married Dalit woman from Delhi multiple times and blackmailing her with pictures of the assault in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur.

The court of Special Judge (SC/ST Act) P.N. Pandey in Rampur also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on Mohd Asim, a labourer and father of four children.

The court found that Asim raped the victim for the first time in an orchard in August 2019 when she was going home to meet her brother in Rampur on Raksha Bandhan day.

Asim took some pictures during the attack which he used to blackmail her for money and also raped her many times later.

The FIR in this case was registered on January 6, 2020 after the survivor’s husband came to know about it.

Asim was released on bail during the Covid lockdown but was sent to jail after being pronounced guilty on Thursday.

He was booked under section 376 (rape) of IPC. After investigation, police filed a charge sheet in which he was also charged under the stringent SC/ST Act.

The medical report of the survivor was inconclusive as the test was carried days after the sexual assault.

The court also took notice of the fact that the survivor had deposited money in the account of the accused.

According to the judgment, the accused was awarded 10 years in jail under IPC section 376 (rape) and life imprisonment under the SC/ST Act.

The accused had earlier pleaded not guilty, claiming he was framed by the survivor for money.

(This article has been published via a syndicated feed)