A Delhi court has sentenced a man to 10 years in jail for detaining a woman in a house where flesh trade was carried out and abetting her rape, saying his crime was "very serious and horrifying".
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat handed down the jail term to west Delhi resident Sant Ram, who was running a prostitution racket with a minor girl and had trapped the victim by detaining her in the house and forcing her into the trade.
"The persons like the convict (Ram) herein are like a virus which would infect or pollute the whole society, if not dealt with and destroyed or kept away from society as long as possible," the judge observed while sentencing him and also imposed a fine of Rs 54,000 on him.
The court held him guilty of the offences of abetment of rape under section 376/109 of the IPC and various provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act relating to running prostitution trade, forcing a person into it and detaining him /her in the premises where prostitution is carried out.
"The victim has stoutly deposed that Sant Ram and his minor accomplice are responsible for her forcible induction into sex trade. Her evidence in this regard appears to be free from any embellishments and prevarications," the court said, while relying on the victim's testimony.
The court observed that it was a "horrible and painful tale of a helpless woman" who had come to the capital from her native place in Jharkhand looking for work to earn for her ailing mother's treatment.
According to police, the woman used to work as a maid in Delhi. She again came here in 2012 after spending some time in her native village and asked her friend to find her a job as she needed money.
The woman's friend told her that she knew Sant Ram who was in the business of tents and she could work with him. However, she found out that her friend was already into the business of prostitution with Ram and had tried to trap her, it said.
The victim tried to escape but was beaten up and forced into sex trade for nearly a month. On October 3, 2012, the woman managed to run away from the house in Mahavir Enclave here and approached the police.
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