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Chandigarh: Nepalese man to spend 12 years in jail for raping minor girl
The Nepalese man repeatedly raped the 12-year-old daughter of a woman with whom he was in a relationship; girl revealed sexual assault during counselling at children’s home
Observing that every person needed to know the legal ramifications of their vicious acts, a fast-track court has sentenced a Nepalese man to 12 years in jail for repeatedly raping the 12-year-old daughter of a woman whom he was dating.
Sunny Bahadur, 39, who was held guilty under Section 367 (2) (n) (committing rape repeatedly on the same woman) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, was also fined ₹60,000 by special judge Swati Sehgal.
“Sexual assault on children of tender age is not only a brutal blow on the physical autonomy and personal integrity of the victim, rather it degrades the soul of the victim,” the court said, adding that adequate sentencing was better statutory armour against gender outrage than the long clauses of complex sections with all the protection writ into it.
The 12-year-old had revealed the sexual abuse during a counselling session at Snehalaya, a children’s home in Sector 15.
The child had disclosed to her counsellor that prior to Snehalaya, she was living with her paternal aunt for two years in Hallomajra and before that with her mother, who worked at a candle factory.
She shared that her mother was in a relationship with a Nepalese man, Sunny Bahadur, would visit their house every alternate day to meet her. And thrice, when her mother was away at work, he locked the house, gagged her and raped her. He also beat her up for resisting.
Even her mother used to scold her and when her father came to know, he left her at her maternal aunt’s home, before she moved to Snehalaya on October 10, 2018.
Following the revelations, the Snehalaya superintendent wrote to the police, who registered a case under Sections 376 AB (rape on woman under 12 years of age) and 376 (2) (n) of the IPC, and Section 6 of the POCSO Act at the Sector-31 police station in November 2018.
During investigation, police discovered that accused was already in custody since 2017 in a murder case.
In court, Bahadur pleaded for leniency, stating that he had an elderly father and a son to look after. However, the court observed that the convict had committed a heinous offence of raping a minor victim, which called for no leniency and he should be sternly punished.
The fast-track court also observed how sexual assault upon minor girls had shown an alarming increase, yet the reporting was very low.
