Man jailed for life for raping niece

A man found guilty of committing incestuous rape on his minor niece has been awarded life imprisonment by a Delhi court.

New Delhi: A man found guilty of committing incestuous rape on his minor niece resulting in the girl getting pregnant and then suffering a natural abortion has been awarded life imprisonment by a Delhi court which also directed government to pay Rs 1 lakh compensation to the victim.

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau sentenced 29-year-old Tara Chand, a native of Uttarakhand and a father of a minor son, to life in jail and a fine of Rs 10,000 for raping her minor niece after consuming alcohol. "Convict Tara Chand had been regularly and unashamedly raping his own niece hardly aged 13-14 years after voluntarily consuming alcohol. "Not only did he violate the body of child but he also tormented her mentally and played treachery with the family of the child who had given him shelter. Let alone leniency he deserves exemplary punishment," the court said, noting the case related to "intra familial sex abuse (or Incest)." Observing that the act of the convict is unpardonable, the court said, "as per the official statistics a total of 568 cases of rape have been reported in Delhi alone in 2011 out of which only 2 per cent have been committed by strangers." The judge also directed Delhi government to grant a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the victim, studying in class 6th, to provide her "restorative and compensatory justice". Chand was the maternal uncle of the victim and had come to Delhi nearly five months prior to the incident in search of employment. Due to his poor economic condition, the girl`s father helped him get a job at the hotel where he was a cook and also allowed him to stay with them in their one room rented accommodation in northwest Delhi. The convict used to sleep in the same room as the victim and her parents. Chand used to consume alcohol daily with the father of the victim, whose mother was a patient of depression addicted to sleeping pills. Taking advantage of this situation he used to sexually exploit the girl taking her to an adjoining vacant room. On one occasion, the girl told her mother about Chand`s ill-intentions but she refused to believe her. On May 1, 2012, the girl complained of stomach pain and her father took her to a hospital. Medical examination revealed that the girl was pregnant and had suffered a natural abortion. She then informed the doctors about being sexually exploited and a case was lodged and Chand was arrested. The DNA of the aborted foetus matched with that of Chand. PTI