Meghalaya HC dismisses former MLA Julius Dorphang's appeal in rape case

The Meghalaya High Court has upheld the judgment of a trial court that sentenced former MLA Julius Kitbook Dorphang to 25 years in jail for raping a 14-year-old girl in 2017.

In 2017, Dorphang was serving as an MLA.

Dismissing the appeal on April 5, a division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W Diengdoh said the term of imprisonment of 25 years given by the trial court does not call for any interference.

The court pointed out that the appellant was about 52 years at the time of the commission of repeated acts of rape on the same woman in Umiam.

“By imposing a sentence of 25 years of imprisonment, the trial court has ensured that by the time the appellant is let loose again in society, his libido would have been sufficiently lessened by age and adequately chastened by the punishment. He will then no longer be able to unleash his lust or indulge in any further virile bravado,” the court observed.

The bench further said that one does not find any redeeming feature in the defence and the matter in which the survivor described to have been treated by the appellant herein has appropriately resulted in the tenure of imprisonment and the fine of Rs 15 lakh being slapped on the appellant by the trial court.

“There does not appear to be any glaring infirmity in the judgment of conviction or the consequent sentence pronounced against the appellant on the basis thereof. The trial court dealt with the material before it at great length and justly arrived at the right conclusion by using the appropriate tools of assessment,” the court added.

The former MLA was apprehended from an inter-state bus terminus (ISBT) at Gorchuk in Assam's capital city Guwahati following a complaint filed against him by the State  Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR).

The trial court on August 13, 2021, sentenced Dorphang to 25 years in jail in a special court in the Ti-Bhoi district for raping a minor girl in 2017 when he was a legislator.

Also read: Meghalaya: Chief Electoral Officer urged to include Khasi-Jaintia villages in state's electoral rolls