he much debated Imrana case came to its logical conclusion on Thursday when the district judge of Muzaffarnagar pronounced a 10-year jail term for Imrana's father-in-law, who had raped his daughter-in-law in May 2005.
Imrana, the 29-year-old victim had been virtually crucified by an Islamic Shariat court, which had not only declined to take any action against the culprit father-in-law Ali
Mohammad, but also disallowed her to cohabit with her husband.
Muzaffarnagar District and Sessions Judge R D Nimesh pronounced the judgment in a crowded open court at around 4.30 pm. Holding Ali Mohammad alias Mohammad Ali 'guilty,' the judge announced a 10-year jail sentence for raping daughter-in-law Imrana as also a 3-year jail term for threatening to kill her.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on Mohammad.
"Out of this money, Rs 8,000 would be given to Imrana," Government Counsel Raj Bahadur Singh told rediff.com over telephone from Muzaffarnagar.
Singh said, "The judge, however, declared that both the imprisonments will be counted simultaneously. So effectively Ali Mohammad would have to spend 10 years in jail."
Imrana's lawyer Sita Ram said, "It is a great victory for Imrana who really had to battle it out against all kinds of odds and social humiliation in these 16 months."
He went on to add, "At last justice has prevailed and that too in a relatively lesser time than what is usually taken by Indian courts."
Neither Imrana nor her husband Noor Ilahi, a cycle-rickshaw puller, were present in or
around the court on Thursday.
Image: Protestors demand the death sentence for Imrana's father-in-law.
Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images
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