Blind Man Convicted For Rape After Blind Victim Identifies Voice

Victims usually identify accused by facial recognition. In this case, the accused was identified by his voice.

In a first, a visually impaired man was convicted by a district court for raping a visually impaired woman on the pretext of marriage. The man, a trainee at a public sector bank, was convicted by a district court in Gurugram on 18 July, of raping a 32-year-old widow, reported The Times of India.

The accused, a resident of Delhi’s Mayur Vihar was convicted after the woman identified his voice.

Arvind Sharma, public prosecutor, told Times of India:

It was very difficult to prove the case of prosecution beyond reasonable doubt especially when both the victim and accused were completely blind. Statement of victim supported by call details, medical and forensic evidence help in proving the crime.

The woman’s statement was corroborated by medical evidence and forensic reports. Sharma added that call logs of the two were obtained and that the details matched the woman’s description.

In her statement to the court, the victim said she was looking for an advocate in connection with her husband's death in 2014. A friend introduced her to Kapoor, who was supposed to help her find a good advocate. On 30 May 2015, Kapoor took her to Gurugram, saying they would meet a lawyer. But instead of meeting a lawyer, he took her to a guest house in Gurugram, where he raped her, Times of India quoted her court statement.

When I started crying he asked me to keep quiet, telling me that he will marry me. After the incident for the next five months the accused sexually exploited me on the pretext of marriage, during this period he also took money from me time to time. After some time he refused to maintain a relationship with me and stated that he will not marry me as he is no more interested in me.

After getting no responses from Kapoor, his family and their common friends, she contacted a union leader for the visually impaired in New Delhi. With the help of an NGO, she filed an FIR in Mainwali Nagar West in November 2015, which was later transferred to DCP West in Gurugram, reported The Times of India.

While victims usually identify the accused by facial recognition, in this case the accused was made to speak and was eventually identified by voice recognition.

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