Noida: Man gets seven years’ imprisonment for raping daughter

GREATER NOIDA: A local Gautam Budh Nagar court has awarded seven years’ imprisonment to a 45-year-old man for raping his daughter in their house more than five years

GREATER NOIDA: A local Gautam Budh Nagar court has awarded seven years’ imprisonment to a 45-year-old man for raping his daughter in their house more than five years ago. The accused was, however, acquitted of charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as the victim was found to be adult when the incident took place, said the special public prosecutor.

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The man was pronounced guilty of rape despite his wife, the complainant in the case, turned hostile in the court.

The incident took place on February 15, 2015, and an FIR was lodged against the accused under IPC Section 376(C) and POCSO act at Sector 24 police station in Noida. In the FIR, the victim’s mother, a domestic maid, said that she had gone to work. “I have two daughters aged 16 years and 9 years. My husband sent the younger daughter out on some pretext and locked the door and raped the elder daughter. Neighbours came to her rescue when the younger daughter informed them of her father’s wrongdoing,” the mother had said in the FIR.

A charge sheet was filed against the accused on January 6, 2016. The accused claimed he was innocent and told the court that the victim was having an affair and he had warned her not to meet that person. Upset over this, she has lodged a false case against him, the man told the court.

During the trial, the complainant turned hostile and said she had lodged a complaint against her husband for misbehaving and molestation, and not rape. But the victim confirmed her statement that she was raped by her father.

“Additional District Judge Niranjan Kumar has held the accused guilty under IPC section 376 C and awarded seven years simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000. He was, however, acquitted of charges under POCSO act as the victim was found to be adult on the date of incident. The order was delivered on December 17,” JP Bhati, special public prosecutor, said on Monday.