A blind man, who worked as a trainee officer at a public sector bank, has been found guilty of repeatedly?raping a 32-year-old widow, also blind, on the pretext of marriage. The complainant, mother of an eight-year-old girl, identified her tormentor by his voice in the court.
Representational Image
Additional sessions judge Rajni Yadav convicted Saurabh Kapoor (33), a resident of Mayur Vihar (Delhi), on Tuesday based on the call details of both the accused and the survivor, medical evidence, forensic report, and the woman's statement.
The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment during the next hearing scheduled for July 24.
"It was very difficult to prove the case of prosecution beyond reasonable doubts, especially because both the survivor and the accused are completely blind," said public prosecutor Arvind Sharma. "With the help of the call details, their locations were matched at relevant times, which corroborated the survivor's version. Also, the accused was made to speak 2-3 sentences in the court and she recognised him," he added.
In her submission to the court, the woman, a resident of Delhi, had said that she was looking for a lawyer after the death of her husband in 2014. Though it had appeared to be a suicide, she suspected a foul play and wanted to a thorough probe into her husband's death, and thus was looking for a lawyer. One of her friends introduced her to Saurabh, who could find her a good lawyer.
BCCL/Representational Image
On May 30, 2015, Saurabh took her to Gurgaon on the pretext of meeting a lawyer. "But instead of taking to the lawyer, he took me to a guest house in Gurgaon, where he raped me," the woman told the court.
"When I started crying, he asked me to be quiet and said that he would marry me. Over the next five months, he sexually exploited me on the pretext of marriage. He also took money from me on a number of occasions. After some time, he said he did not want to continue the relationship," she alleged.
She approached an association of blind people, who introduced her to Fatima Kabir. With the help of Fatima, who works with an NGO, she filed a zero FIR at Mainwali Nagar West police station in November 2015. The case was later transferred to the DCP (west) in Gurgaon. Subsequently, Saurabh was arrested in December 2015 but was released on bail later.