Gurgaon: Man gets life term for raping minor daughter for 7 years

A 40-year-old man was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment for repeatedly raping and threatening the life of his 14-year-old daughter over a period of seven years, till February 2016, in Gurgaon.

A 40-year-old man was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment for repeatedly raping and threatening the life of his 14-year-old daughter over a period of seven years, till February 2016, in Gurgaon.

A 40-year-old man was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment for repeatedly raping and threatening the life of his 14-year-old daughter over a period of seven years, till February 2016, in Gurgaon. (HT Representative Photo)

The bench, comprising Rajni Yadav, the additional sessions judge, delivered the judgement on Saturday.

“The court considered the facts and circumstances, coupled with the aggravating factor that a gruesome act was committed by the convict, by which he had not only defiled the body of the victim but also put an indelible mark on her personal life which shall haunt her throughout her life — that she is a victim of rape committed by her own father,” the court order stated.

The court, while sentencing the man to life, termed the offence ‘serious’, as he had raped the victim for the first time when she was seven-years-old and continued to abuse her till she was 13-years-old.

“For these dastardly acts, he deserves no sympathy or leniency,” the judge observed.

The court sentenced the man to rigorous life imprisonment and fined him Rs40,000 for aggravated sexual assault, punishable under Section 6 of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and rape. He was also sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year and fined Rs5,000 under section 506 (threatening for life) of the IPC.

The man was sentenced to a further six months of rigorous imprisonment for failing to pay the fine.

According to the prosecution, the girl was a five-year-old when the man started to abuse her and her elder sister. The older girl fled the man’s custody. As per the victim’s statement, she was abused for the first time when she was in class 3 and it continued till she turned 13.

The man had denied the allegations and accused his daughter of falsely implicating him due to the influence of her boyfriend. The court refused the man’s plea and held him guilty.

“She was often assaulted and her life threatened. On February 26, 2016, the man had tried to falsely incriminate a friend of the girl’s by forcing her to complain against him. But after counselling by the model prosecution advocate, the girl revealed the truth and her father was arrested,” Arun Shokeen, counsel for the victim, said.

After her statements were recorded, the victim was sent to a child care institute in Karnal and later handed over to her sister following a request.

The accused has been in jail since February 27, 2016, when he was arrested.