Orissa's ex-advocate general convicted in molestation case

Orissa's ex-advocate general convicted in molestation case
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

BHUBANESWAR, FEBRUARY 1: A city sessions court on Tuesday sentenced former advocate general Indrajit Ray to undergo three years of rigorous imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 5,000 holding him guilty in the Anjana Mishra molestation case.

The court sentenced the former advocate general to 3 years RI under Section 376/511 (Punishment for rape and punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment) and imposed Rs 5,000 fine (and three more months RI) under Section 354 (outraging modesty of woman) of IPC.The sentence on both the counts would run concurrently. In case of default of the fine amount, Ray would have to undergo RI for another three months, the court ordered.

Pronouncing the judgment to a packed courtroom, chief judicial magistrate-cum-assistant sessions judge in the designated CBI court Srikant Nayak said since the convict has lost his constitutional post and was subjected to humiliation for the last two years, a deterrent sentence would meet the ends of justice.

Ray, whowas present in the courtroom, was immediately taken into custody by city additional superintendent of police Sunita Kakran. He was later enlarged by the assistant sessions judge on a bail bond of Rs 40,000 and two sureties. Anjana was not present in the courtroom. CBI senior public prosecutor K Sudhakar said he was happy with the judgment, but declined to comment if he would move higher court to increase the sentence. Defence advocate Kumud Ranjan Das said they would move appellate court against the judgment.

Nayak, in his 44-page judgment, said the accused intended to commit the rape and had made elaborate preparations for it. ``He took the victim to the bedroom while none of the family members were present, his preparation to commit the offence is complete and he tried to gain the sympathy and the confidence of the victim,'' the judge observed in his judgment. Citing various judgments of the Supreme Court, the judge said the series of acts committed by the accused can't be explained by any otherhypothesis than that he intended to commit the crime.

Quoting another judgment of the SC to explain the approach of Ray, the judge said that at the time of the offence the accused was completely naked and lay over the victim which amounts to attempt to commit rape.

The prosecution in its case had said that Ray had invited Anjana Mishra, the estranged wife of IFS officer Subash Mishra, to have discussions on the divorce case on July 11, 1997 in his office-cum-residence. Anjana Mishra later took lunch with the former AG and after being called by him, she entered his bedroom. Ray persuaded her to enter into a compromise with her husband to which Anjana agreed.

Then Ray got up to congratulate her and caught hold of her both hands, pulled her up, threw her on the bed and pounced on her in an attempt to rape her. After much struggle, she could free herself, slapped Ray and left the bedroom.

The next day she reported the matter to the deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Surendranath Swain after beingpersuaded by women social activists. She also brought the matter to the notice of former chief minister JB Patnaik on July 14. But seeing that no action was taken, she filed an FIR at the Cantonment police station and a case was registered on July 19. While the Cantonment police were investigating the matter, a number of public interest litigations were filed in the Orissa High Court.

Pursuant to the directions by the HC, CBI took up the investigation from Cantonment police station on August 16, 1997. The investigative agency led by its DSP SK Mukhopadhyaya of Calcutta branch submitted a chargesheet on November 19 the same year.

The trial in the case started in the court of assistant sessions judge Srikant Nayak on December 1, 1998. During the trial, 18 prosecution witnesses and 11 defence witnesses were examined by the court.