Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has upheld the conviction of a man in a 1979 gang rape case involving a minor, but reduced his jail term from seven-and-a-half years to four years, taking into account the 43-year pendency of the criminal appeal and his advanced age.Partly allowing the appeal filed by Ram Swarup, Justice Santosh Rai directed the 71-year-old convict to surrender and serve the remainder of his sentence.The court refused to extend the benefit of probation, observing that undue sympathy in such cases would amount to a “gross miscarriage of justice”. It described the offence as “heinous” and underscored that sentencing in sexual assault cases must serve both deterrent and societal interests.“In such cases, where the survivor’s testimony is the bedrock of the conviction, sentencing is not merely a retributive exercise. It must serve as a deterrent to the offender and others, and reflect the legislative intent to protect the vulnerable,” the court said.The bench noted that Section 376 of the IPC, as it stood at the time of the offence, permitted courts to impose a sentence below the statutory minimum of seven years for “adequate and special reasons”.While affirming the conviction, the court considered that the incident had occurred nearly 47 years ago and that the appeal had remained pending for about 43 years through no fault of the appellant. It also noted that Ram Swarup was 27 years old at the time of trial, is now 71, and had no other criminal antecedents on record.Holding that these factors constituted “adequate and special reasons” under the proviso to Section 376(1) IPC, the court ruled that the substantive sentence deserved moderation, though the conviction could not be disturbed.According to the prosecution, on the intervening night of Oct 31 and Nov 1, 1979, the victim, then aged between 15 and 17 years, was abducted at knifepoint by three villagers — Kali Charan, Ram Lal and Ram Swarup. She was allegedly taken by train via Shahjahanpur to a vacant house in Tilhar, where she was confined for a week and repeatedly gang-raped. She was later rescued by a sub-inspector while being taken to a fair in Bilsanda.A chargesheet was filed in 1983, following which an assistant sessions court in Pilibhit convicted all three accused and sentenced them to a maximum of seven-and-a-half years’ imprisonment. The convicts challenged the verdict in the high court the same year.During the pendency of the appeal, co-accused Kali Charan and Ram Lal died, leading to abatement of proceedings against them in 2022. The case thereafter survived only against Ram Swarup.During the hearing, the appellant’s counsel did not challenge the conviction and confined arguments to the quantum of sentence, contending that the punishment should be reduced and that the appellant be considered for probation. The high court, however, rejected the plea for probation while reducing the jail term.
