Man gets life term for raping, sodomising minor daughter

New Delhi: A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for repeatedly raping and sodomising his nine-year-old daughter with a Delhi court saying he showed no respect for the chastity of his offspring. The court awarded the maximum jail term, prescribed for the offence of rape under the law, to the Delhi resident and observed that she was sexually assaulted by her father and could not tell about the incident to anyone on account of threats extended by him.

It also directed the Delhi government to give Rs two lakh compensation to the child, who is staying at a reform home here, under the `Restorative and Compensatory Justice` scheme for her welfare. "...She (victim) was sharing substantial household responsibilities with her parents, both of them were away for work for long hours. Despite the fact that the child was a pillar of strength for her parents, the convict, instead of showing his love and affection to the child, sexually abused her. "He showed no respect for chastity of his daughter, despite the fact that he was her father and child trusted him for her security and protection. He gave her severe beatings and subjected her to incest, sexual assault, unnatural sexual assault and even oral sex," Additional Sessions Judge Illa Rawat said and also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him.. According to the police, the girl`s ordeal came to light when she disclosed her father`s acts to her tuition teacher who worked with an NGO and noticed injury marks on her body. The victim told her teacher that when her mother used to go out for work, she took care of her younger siblings and do household work and her father used to rape and sodomise her repeatedly. She said her father used to beat her and also threaten her not to disclose about his acts to anyone. Her teacher discussed the issue with her colleagues and also informed her mother and lodged a case. The man was arrested by the officials of Adarsh Nagar police station here. The court said the child`s testimony before it clearly bring out her plight on being repeatedly sexually abused by her father and in all these statements, she was consistent regarding the allegations of rape and sodomy by her father. "It was a matter of sheer chance that while playing in the Primary Education Center, where the minor used to go, she fell down and was picked up by her teacher, who also removed dust from her frock and when she accidentally touched the back of the child, she started crying. "It was then that the teacher discovered marks of beating on the back of the child and was told by the minor about sexual abuse by her father," the court said. During the trial, the man claimed innocence and said he has been falsely implicated in the case by his daughter, wife and NGO officials and that he had nothing to do with the offence. The court, however, rejected his submission saying there was a remote possibility of his wife tutoring the child and no motive could be assigned to the NGO workers for falsely implicating him. "No plausible justification has come forth from accused, why his own child would nurture an enmity or grudge or ill will against him, i.e.- her own father. The testimony of the child clearly bring out the traumatic experience she suffered at the hands of her own father i.e.-the accused," it said.