Minimum punishment of 3 years was given for rape, Supreme Court said – surprised by the decision of the trial court

New Delhi: Recently, the Supreme Court expressed surprise that a trial court awarded only three years’ imprisonment for the offense of rape under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), despite the minimum punishment prescribed for the offense (Nirbhaya case (in the case before the law change in 2013) was seven years. This matter is currently before the Supreme Court, but the decision of the trial court of Gujarat is surprising.Supreme challenge to lower court
The lower court of Gujarat sentenced the accused to three years imprisonment in the rape case. The convict challenged this decision before the Gujarat High Court. The Gujarat High Court rejected the appeal of the convict and also rejected the appeal of the state government in which it had requested the High Court to increase the sentence of the convict. After this the matter has come before the Supreme Court.

When the case was heard last week before a bench led by Justice JB Pardiwala, the apex court remarked that we are unable to understand how the trial court could have found the offense of rape under Section 376 IPC For this, only three years of rigorous imprisonment was given, whereas the minimum punishment is seven years. Even the High Court did not pay attention to this serious error while rejecting the appeal filed by the convicts. The Supreme Court was also surprised that the Gujarat High Court did not take this fact into account while rejecting the convict’s appeal against the sentence and the state’s appeal to increase the sentence.

What does the provision of punishment in rape case say?
After the Nirbhaya case, there were many changes in the rape law and in many cases, provision for punishment up to death was made. After the brutality with Nirbhaya, people took to the streets and demanded changes in the rape law and a long debate went on and then changes were made in the rape law, the rape law was made stricter. It was redefined and the law was tightened to protect women.

Before the change in rape law after the Nirbhaya case, there used to be a provision of minimum 7 years and maximum life imprisonment for the culprit in a rape case. But after the change in the rape law, if due to rape the woman reaches the vegetative stage i.e. a state of death i.e. a state like coma is created, then the maximum punishment can be death sentence. Indian Judicial Code has been implemented in place of IPC from July 1 last year and in the case of rape, there is a provision of punishment for the culprit in section 64 and in case of rape, the punishment is at least 10 years or up to life imprisonment. Provision has been made.

what will happen next now
When the Supreme Court put this discrepancy before the state government’s lawyer Swati Ghildiyal, she considered it a serious error. She also admitted that the state had not filed any appeal against the High Court decision, leaving her unable to understand how to remedy the situation. The Supreme Court said that it wants to investigate this aspect in depth and scheduled the hearing of the case for January 23, 2025. In this case, the decision of the Supreme Court will decide the way forward in following the minimum punishment provisions of the judiciary and correcting the judicial errors.