35-yr-old sentenced to 10 years for raping minor daughter

A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act court recently sentenced a 35-year-old man to 10 years’ imprisonment for repeatedly raping his

A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act court recently sentenced a 35-year-old man to 10 years’ imprisonment for repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter in 2016 after her mother’s death in 2014. The man claimed that the girl had lodged a false case, as he had opposed her relationship with a divorcee.

HT Image

The survivor told the court that she was subjected to the assault from July to September 2016. After the last incident on September 17, 2016, she narrated the assault to her maternal aunt and with the help of other relatives then lodged a case against her father.

The court dismissed allegations about the girl’s affair, as her father could not give any evidence to prove his case. “Even if the victim had lost her virginity earlier, it can not give license to any person to rape her. It is the accused who was on trial and not the victim. So, whether the victim is promiscuous, is an irrelevant issue in a case of rape,” the court observed. It relied on the survivor’s testimony and medical evidence, while convicting the man.