Delhi: Man jailed for seven years for cheating, raping woman

A man, who married a woman despite having a wife and daughter, has been sentenced to seven years in jail for the offence of rape by a Delhi court which said he cheated and breached the trust of both the women and the child.

Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja awarded the jail term to Delhi resident Chetan Khanna and observed that due to his "lust", he ruined the life of the innocent complainant (woman) by cheating her into a "so-called marriage".

"It cannot be ignored that convict Chetan due to his lust ruined the life of the innocent complainant by cheating her into a so-called marriage due to which she succumbed to establish physical relations with him believing herself to be his lawfully wedded wife," the court said.

"Yet, at the same time, it is to be kept in mind that the wife and child of the convict shall also suffer due to his above conduct in which they had no role whatsoever to play. The convict had thereby cheated not only the complainant but has also committed breach of trust of his wife and child by committing these offences," the court added.

The case was registered on the directions of the court after the police refused to take any action in the matter and the woman had to approach the judiciary.

As per the woman's complaint, in July 2008, Chetan married her at an Arya Samaj Mandir in Delhi and he took her to a hotel and thereafter to a rented house and maintained physical relations with her.

He, however, did not take her to his parents' house and neither told them about his marriage, she said.

The woman said he used to come home late and later on started neglecting her. One day, she found a copy of Chetan's ration card in the house and through that she came to know that he was already married and was having an eight-year-old daughter also.

When she confronted him, he admitted that he was already married and asked her to keep quiet, she said.

The court held Chetan guilty of marrying and raping the woman after concealing his previous marriage.

He was also convicted for the offence of cheating and a fine of Rs 20,000 was imposed on him by the court.