MUMBAI: Twenty-five years after a self-styled priest and exorcist raped a young married woman who had come to him to be cured of her illness, the man, now in his late 50s, will go to jail for the crime. The Bombay high court recently held Malegaon resident Shantaram Zende guilty of rape and upheld a trial court's decision to imprison him for seven years.

Justice Sadhana Jadhav ordered Zende, who was in jail for barely a month in 1990, to surrender within six weeks to serve his punishment. The HC has asked the sessions court to issue a bailable warrant against Zende so he will appear before the court to be apprised of the verdict against him. A plea by the defence for a reduced sentence was opposed by additional public prosecutor Arfan Sait, who said that no sympathy should be shown.The judge agreed. "There can be no leniency. The law says the minimum punishment (for the crime) should be seven years."

The case dates back to 1990, when the survivor, was taken to Zende and a local pujari by her parents and husband after they were told that she was falling sick regularly due to witchcraft. Zende, who claimed to a "bhagat", allegedly cla imed he would exorcise her and took her to his room, where he raped her. Her screams were explained to her parents and husband who were standing outside the door as a manifestation of her body's possession by another being.She was then taken to a nearby temple, where she was allegedly raped again by Zende.The survivor then told her parents of her ordeal and they approached the police to register a complaint of rape.Zende was arrested and subsequently released on bail. A sessions court in 1994 convicted Zende for the rape and the local pujari for abetting the crime. Zende filed an appeal, which came up for hearing last month.

Zende claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case.The defence, led by advocate Prasad Dhakepalkar, contended that the complaint was lodged after Zende told the survivor's parents that he was an ayurvedic vaidya (physician) and would give her medicines.Angered by the fact that he had refused to exorcise the survivor, they had lodged a rape complaint against him, the defence claimed. The sessions court had rejected this defence, saying that in the absence of any enmity between them, the reported quarrel could hardly be believed to be the reason for lodging a complaint of rape. "In our society , a daughter or wife having alleged such charges (of rape) are looked down upon and the defence of the accused of the accused does not appear to be probab le," the trial judge had said, adding, "He acted as as a 'bhagat'and took disadvantage of the blind faith of the complainant and her parents and husband to commit rape."

The court said that the statement of the survivor was reliable and cross-examination had not been able to shake her evidence. The HC upheld Zende's conviction, but acquitted the local pujari.

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