E-Paper
Ludhiana: Man gets 20-year jail for stepdaughter’s rape
The victim shared her ordeal with her class teacher, who took her to the child welfare committee; Ludhiana’s Shimlapuri police had registered an FIR and arrested him
Convicting a carpenter for raping his minor stepdaughter, a court has awarded him 20 years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Additional sessions judge Amar Jeet Singh of the special fast-track court also awarded him 3 years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 10 of the POCSO and five years under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code besides slapping a fine of ₹1.20 lakh.
Out of the fine, ₹1 lakh will be given to the victim as compensation. The conviction shall run concurrently. The Shimlapuri police had arrested the culprit for raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter on September 30, 2023. The accused had been sexually harassing her for the past two years. The victim shared her ordeal with her class teacher, who took her to the child welfare committee. The Shimlapuri police had registered an FIR and arrested him.
The FIR was registered on the statement of the victim’s mother on September 29, 2023. The complainant stated that she was aware about his caper and objected to it, but to no avail. He used to “threaten her that he would kill her and her daughter” if she filed a complaint against him.
The woman added that she had married the accused on October 16, 2019. It was her second marriage after divorce from her first husband. She has a daughter from her first marriage. It was also the second marriage of her husband after the death of his first wife.
The complainant alleged that the accused had started sexually harassing her 14 and a half years old daughter for the past two years and used to touch her inappropriately. Her daughter was depressed. Her class teacher noticed her depression and counselled her. The girl narrated the whole incident to her class teacher, who took her to the child welfare committee near the observation home at Gill Road near Sidhwan Canal. The welfare committee involved the police.
