What punishment is to be awarded to a police officer committing rape within the limits of his police station and under which provision of law?

Question: What punishment is to be awarded to a police officer committing rape within the limits of his police station and under which provision of law? [UPHJS. 1995]

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [What punishment is to be awarded to a police officer committing rape within the limits of his police station and under which provision of law?]

Answer

Sub-section (2) of section 376 deals with the instances of Rape committed by a police officer on a woman in his custody or in the custody of a police officer subordinate to him, within the limits of the police station where he is appointed or in the premises of any station house whether or not situated in the police station to which he is appointed.

A minimum sentence of rigorous imprisonment for ten years, with a fine, is provided. The term of ten years’ imprisonment may extend to imprisonment for life, which means imprisonment for the remainder of the perpetrator’s natural life.

In the Mathura Case 1979 AIR 185, Mathura (aged 14-16), an Adivasi girl, was called to the police station in Maharashtra for a general investigation and asked to stay back while her family members left. She was then raped by two policemen. the High Court had found the accused guilty and sentenced him but then the Supreme Court reversed the decision. The Court acquitted the police constables Ganpat and Tukaram as no bodily injuries were found which showed that Mathura did not resist and gave her consent to the officials.

Also, in Rameeza Bee Case (1978), Rameeza Bee (aged 26) along with her husband was arrested by police in Andhra Pradesh. She was raped by 3 police officers and her husband who tried to protest was mercilessly beaten up and murdered by the policemen. During the period of commission’s proceedings, the police defended the murder and rape by putting questions on the character of the victim and tried proving that Rameeza Bee was married several times earlier and her marriage to Ahmed Husain was not lawful marriage and she was wrongfully cohabiting with him.

However, the commission stated that the police officers were guilty of rape as well as murder and shall be prosecuted. Subsequently, they were acquitted on the grounds stating that evidence recorded by the inquiry commission was inadmissible in the session’s Court.

In both the cases, and various other similar incidents raised the issue of custodial rape which led to the 2013 amendment in the Criminal Law, and now the punishment prescribed for custodial rape is at least 10 years of rigorous imprisonment which may extend up to life imprisonment along with a fine.

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