E-Paper
Stepfather gets life term till death for raping minor girl
The accused’s DNA matched with the baby boy delivered by the 11-year-old victim. This helped prove that he had sexually exploited her
A mechanic, who raped and impregnated his 11-year-old minor stepdaughter, was sentenced to life imprisonment till death by a local court on Thursday after a fast-track trial.
“You will remain in jail till you die,” the court of additional district and sessions judge, Harpreet Kaur, designated as special court for crime against women, told the accused who was arrested in January this year. He will also pay a fine of ₹5,000.
Stating that forensic evidence had helped nail the mechanic despite witnesses turning hostile, Manjit Singh, public prosecutor, said, “The DNA of the accused matched with the baby boy delivered by the victim which helped prove that (he) had sexually exploited the victim.”
The rape came to light after the victim, a Class-5 student, complained to her teacher of stomach pain and confided in her that she had been sexually exploited by her stepfather.
After the mother was informed about the minor’s plight, she lodged a police complaint on January 29, 2019, and the accused was arrested.
A medical examination revealed the victim to be in the fifth month of pregnancy. She was then moved to a home for destitutes at Kurali, and in April, delivered a boy at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Sector 32, Chandigarh.
The victim told the police that the accused had been repeatedly raping her and impregnated her.
Her mother, an illiterate, had said in her complaint that the mechanic had moved in with her five years ago when her first husband abandoned her with three of their children.
She said she and the accused were married in a temple. But no proof of marriage was presented. She claimed she was unaware of her daughter being sexually exploited even though the pregnancy was visible.
On the woman’s complaint, a case of rape and under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and Section 376 of the IPC was registered at the Phase-1 police station.
