Rapist HIV positive will not be a case of attempted murder: Delhi High Court

- The lower court sentenced the rapist to 10 years in prison

New Delhi on Wednesday, December 9, 2020

The Delhi High Court had ruled that if the rapist was HIV positive, he could not be charged with attempted murder.

In one rape case, the lower court sentenced the rapist to ten years in prison after accepting the plaintiff's argument of attempted murder because he was HIV positive. The convict had challenged the verdict in the High Court.

The Delhi High Court had accepted the rapist's contention that Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code could not be applied for attempted murder in this case.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru in his judgment said that section 307 of the IPC could not be applied in this case. If the victim had consented to sex, the victim could have been charged with attempted suicide. The trial court interpreted that if the victim had consented to sex, she would have voluntarily tested positive for HIV, so section 307 of the IPC could apply, meaning a healthy woman attempted suicide (section 306 of the IPC). This has not happened in this case. That is why section 307 of the IPC cannot be applied to a rapist.

The trial court sentenced the father who raped Orman's daughter to ten years in prison for attempted murder, five years for having an abortion without the victim's consent and another twenty-five years as an additional sentence.