New Delhi: A youth has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for attempting to rape a four-year-old girl by a Delhi court which said such offenders should be dealt with an iron hand as they create a "sense of terror and insecurity" among girls and their parents.
Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar Jain awarded the jail term to 20-year-old Mehdul, resident of Paharganj, for trying to rape the four-year-old daughter of his landlord.
According to police, the incident took place on April 22, last year when the child had gone out to play. When she did not return, her mother started searching for her.
On hearing the screams of the minor, her mother went to the area rented out to Mehdul and on opening the door of kitchen, she found that the accused was trying to rape her daughter, the police said, adding that, she tried to raise an alarm.
However, the accused fled from the spot.
She called the police and Mehdul was arrested later on.
While convicting Mehdul, the court said sexual assault is a serious offence in nature as it not only causes physical injury to the victim but also gives mental trauma.
"And the gravity of trauma multiplies many folds where the victim is an innocent minor. In the instant case, the victim was just four-year-old but the convict chose her to satisfy his lust.
"Moreover, such type of crimes not only create a sense of terror in the society, especially among the female children and their parents but also create sense of insecurity in them," the court observed.
The judge said to restore a sense of security among innocent children and society, "I am of the view that such offenders should be dealt with iron hands as and when their guilt is proved. Thus, in my opinion, it is not a fit case to impose token sentence as prayed by the counsel for the convict".
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Mehdul and said, if realised, the amount should be given to the victim as compensation.
The court noted that had the woman not reached the kitchen at the right time, the accused would have succeeded in his attempt.
The accused claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case as a quarrel had taken place between him and the victim`s mother few days before the incident and she had intended to get the premises vacated from him and his family.
The court, however, refused to accept his contention saying mere fact that some quarrel had taken place between the woman and the family of the accused on the point of rent or premises, is not sufficient enough to cull out that she would use her minor daughter to implicate the accused.
PTI
