AHMEDABAD: A special CBI court on Tuesday sentenced 52-year-old Dhaval Trivedi to life imprisonment until his last breath for raping his student and impregnating her after eloping on the promise of marriage.
Trivedi was convicted of eloping and raping three girl students. In an earlier case, he eloped with two minor students from Padadhari in Rajkot district and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Considering Trivedi’s past of elopement with his two students, the court stated in the order, “With deceit a s his weapon, he spun a web of lies, concealing his true identity while feigning affection. Like a predator luring its prey, he led her astray, betraying the very essence of the teacher-student bond.”
Besides awarding life imprisonment, special judge D GRana imposed a fine of Rs 7 lakh on him and directed the authorities to keep this orderin his jail records, so that this is taken into consideration whenever Trivedi seeks furlough or parole.
The court ordered this because Trivedi, who was already sentenced to life imprisonment for eloping with two minor students from Padadhari school previously, came out on furlough leave. However, he did not surrender back to the Rajkot central jail and instead assumed a new identity of DharmendraDave and started English-speaking tuition classes ‘Skill Development Volunteers Association’ in Chotila, and lured one of his minor students to New Delhi in August 2018.
The Gujarat high court ordered CBI to probe the case. The victim returned home in June 2020 and informed the probe agency that she was taken to various locations in India and Nepal by Trivedi. He identified himself as Satnam Singh, Mukhyar Singh, and Surjit Singh at different places. The victim delivered a baby boy in MGM Hospital in Jamshedpur under a false identity. She fell apart with Trivedi in March 2020 and managed to return home to Chotila three months later.
Prosecution wanted court to hand death sentence to Trivedi
The CBI nabbed Dhaval Trivedi in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, and he was put on trial for abduction, rape, and cheating by impersonation.
The prosecution examined 30 witnesses and presented 69 pieces of documentary evidence in the court to establish his guilt.
The CBI court said, “This case is a story that unveils a deeply unsettling saga of betrayal, deception, and grievous violation of the dignity of an 18-yearold young unmarried girl, barely a bud on the verge of blossoming into womanhood.”
The accused was entrusted with the “sacred duty of imparting knowledge, instead he chose to exploit the innocence of youth. Accused in the gui-se of a teacher, slithered trust of a young woman,” the court said.
The prosecution demanded the death sentence for Trivedi, claiming that he is a repeat offender, but the court imposed life imprisonment on him until his last breath so that he does not get the benefit of remission in the future.
It said, “Considering the fact that the accused was not a novice but had similar antecedents for which he was facing punishment and committed the present offence while facing punishment for the former offence committed by the accused under the POCSO Act, hence, considering the nature of the offence, this court deems it fit to give the maximum available punishment without any leniency to the accused.”
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)