Man gets rigorous life term for raping minor niece
The additional district and sessions judge Prashant Rana convicted the accused, who was her maternal uncle in and he stayed at the girl’s house for five years.
An additional district and sessions court in Palwal sentenced a 29-year-old Rajasthan based man to rigorous life term for raping his 13-year-old minor niece in Pawal in 2022.
The additional district and sessions judge Prashant Rana convicted the accused, who was her maternal uncle in and he stayed at the girl’s house for five years.
The court has not revealed the identity of the accused as he is a relative of the victim.
The court also granted a compensation of ₹10 lakh to the victim under the Victim Compensation Scheme, 2020.
While pronouncing the judgement, the judge observed that, “Uncle has committed rape upon his niece, leading to her pregnancy and abortion, and striking a balance between the retributive, reformative, preventive and deterrent purposes of sentencing, the ends of justice would be met, only if extreme punishment of rigorous imprisonment for remainder of his natural life is granted to the convict, so that no person dares to repeat such an offence, in which a child victim is raped in her own house, by her own relative.”
The court has convicted the accused under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and imposed a fine of ₹10,000 apart from awarding him life term.
The court orders said that the victim was around 13 years 5 months old girl child when the incident happened. “ She was subjected to aggravated penetrative sexual assault for 8-9 months. She got pregnant and the pregnancy was terminated at an advanced stage. Untold pain, suffering and mental trauma has been caused to the victim,” the court order added.
The court also granted a compensation of ₹10 lakh to the victim under the Victim Compensation Scheme, 2020. The victim’s family was earlier granted ₹4.5 lakh and the remaining ₹6 lakh was to be given to her. Of these ₹1.2 lakh should be given to her mother for the rehabilitation and the remaining ₹4.80 lakh in FDR until she attains maturity.
Special public prosecutor appearing for the girl said that convict stayed for 5 years in the house of the family of the victim, as their family member, and then he betrayed their trust. Since, the age of 8 years, the victim used to address him as “Mausa”. She trusted him as an elder and he betrayed her trust.
“The convict has caused a lifelong trauma to the child victim and has shattered her faith. He has caused incurable injuries to her mind and soul. He has devastated her self-respect and dignity. It shocks the individual conscience, as well as the societal conscience, when the sanctity of the relationship between the uncle and niece is violated in such a manner. The convict has committed a crime of highest culpability. This crime is of gravest nature, if not rarest of rare.”
The defence counsel appearing for the convict said that the 29-year-old man is illiterate and has no criminal record earlier, adding he has humble background and his old widow mother is dependent on him. The case was registered at Palwal women’s police station on September 2, 2022 under Sections 323, 506 of the IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO act.
