Minutes before a Delhi court was to pronounce the quantum of sentence to the rapist in the Shanti Mukund Hospital case on Tuesday, he moved an application before it expressing desire to marry the victim.

Reading the application of Bhura, Additional Sessions Judge J M Malik asked the victim and her parents to appear before it on Wednesday to file their reply. The court also reserved the pronouncement of the quantum of sentence on Wednesday.

Bhura, the hospital ward boy, is in prison for brutally raping a 22-year-old nurse and seriously injuring her eyes in 2003.

In his application, Bhura pleaded the court to take a lenient view as he is now a reformed man and said since no one would marry the victim, he was willing to marry her.

On December 7, 2003, Bhura forced himself on the nurse, who was on duty at the hospital in Karkari Mode in east Delhi.

When she tried to escape, Bhura gouged out her right eye and wounded her left eye. He then dragged her to an adjacent bathroom, raped and locked her in.

The court had framed charges against the accused on January 19, 2005. The prosecution examined 21 witnesses to prove its case.