A Delhi Court has decided to take cognizance of the alleged rape of an Afghan woman by an Army Major. The Delhi court took cognizance after reviewing the video of the marriage ceremony and other evidence on file.
The accused committed the alleged offence while serving as an army doctor in Afghanistan. He married the complainant in November 2006 after converting to Islam and began having sexual relations with her.
He was, however, already married and had a family in India. After hearing both parties’ submissions and the evidence on record, Metropolitan Magistrate Sonika of Karkardooma Court ruled that the accused should be tried for rape as well.
The Magistrate said in an order of 11 April, “Thus, this court agrees with the contention raised by the Counsel for the complainant and is of opinion that the accused should also be tried for the offence of rape under Section 376 IPC in addition to other offences.”
The court stated that because the offence under section 376 IPC is exclusively triable by the court of session, the current case must be committed. He scheduled the matter for document scrutiny on April 25 after providing the accused with a copy of the complaint as well as other documents and a copy of the pre-summoning evidence.