NEW DELHI, November 21: Upholding a session court's order, the Supreme Court awarded 13 years rigorous imprisonment to a Nepali national in a 1989 kidnapping and rape case. Veer Bahadur had kidnapped the 11-month-old daughter of a rickshaw puller and raped her repeatedly at Shighalpur village under the Shalimar Bagh police station.

Justices SP Mukherjee, KT Thomas and Kundu Kan, while deciding on a special leave petition (SLP), sentenced Veer Bahadur to 10-year imprisonment for rape. The court also ordered an additional three year imprisonment for kidnapping a minor. Both sentences will run concurrently.

Holding that the accused, Veer Bahadur, who hails from Bassara Dhulawari village in Nepal, had committed a ghastly crime, the court also upheld the fine slapped by the trial court. Seeking to set aside the trial court and High Court orders, Bahadur, who was in judicial custody Tihar jail for the last eight years, had filed a SLP before the apex court in 1995.

Arguing for the prosecution, senior counsel Dr VN Saraf contended that the incident took place on Vijaya Dashmi day in 1989 (October 10), when the girl had gone with her elder sister to see a Ramlila function in the locality. She was kidnapped from there by Veer Bahadur, her neighbour. Saraf added that after the kidnapping, the accused bolted the house from inside and raped her repeatedly.

Radha, while deposing before the trial court had said: ``My older daughter told me that she heard her sister's shrieks from Veer Bahadur's house. When I, along with other residents rushed to his house, I found that the accused had bolted the house from inside for about 30 minutes. When Veer Bahadur opened the door, I found him naked. My daughter was lying on his cot senseless and bleeding from her private parts.''

Additional District and Sessions Judge SM Aggarwal, while disposing the case, had convicted Veer Bahadur to life imprisonment under Section 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to comply to marriage) and 376 (punishment for rape) of the IPC.

Though the Delhi HC set aside the punishment awarded under Section 366 of the IPC, the apex court ordered three years rigorous imprisonment.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.