Man gets life term for raping daughter`s minor friend

A 43-year-old man was sent to jail for life for raping a 15-year-old girl, who was a friend of his daughter, with a fast-track court holding rape is hated crime against basic human right of a woman.

New Delhi: A 43-year-old man has been sent to jail for life for raping a 15-year-old girl, who was a friend of his daughter, with a fast-track court holding rape is the most hated crime as it is against the basic human right of a woman. Fast-track court judge Virender Bhat held Surya Prakash guilty of raping the minor, saying his act calls for a "very harsh punishment" as he had raped the friend of his daughter making the crime "more abominable".

"I am of the opinion that the convict does not deserve any leniency. It may also be noted that while sentencing a rape convict, the impact of his crime upon the victim as well as upon the society, as a whole, are also to be kept in mind. "Sexual assault not only disturbs the entire psychology of a woman and pushes her into a deep emotional crisis but also has a deep impact upon the society at large. Rape is a crime against the basic human right of a woman and hence the most hated crime," Additional Sessions Judge Bhat said. According to prosecution, the victim, a class XII pass out, had run away from her native village near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh as her brothers wanted to fix her marriage and came to Delhi in April 2011. She had got acquainted with Prakash`s daughter who took her to her father at a farmhouse in west Delhi where he was working as a caretaker, it said. On August 12, 2011, Prakash raped her when his daughter had gone out of city to meet her brothers on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. He had then dumped her near New Delhi Railway Station where the police noticed her and she was shifted to Nirmal Chhaya Complex in Tihar Jail here. During her stay there, she had disclosed her ordeal to the officials and a complaint was filed against Prakash, it said. The court, while sentencing him, said the victim would have never thought that the man whom she considered as her protector, would turn out to be a monster. The court also noted that before raping the girl, Prakash had given her few currency notes which she had accepted believing that it was the Raksha Bandhan day and that he was giving her money on his sons` behalf. "She did not realise that it was a bait for her and the convict intended to subject her to his lust," it said. Prakash had sought leniency on the ground that he has to support his family and they would starve if he was sentenced to imprisonment for a longer period. The court rejected his plea that case against him should be dismissed as the girl had filed the complaint days after the incident, saying delay by the victim in lodging complaint of sexual violence should not be a mitigating factor as it is agonising for victims to confide about such cases. "We cannot expect the victim of a sexual assault to cry in the middle of the road that she has been raped or to visit the police station alone for the lodging of the complaint in this regard, when she has nobody to trust around her," it said. The judge said it needs "immense courage" on part of the woman to disclose such crime against her to her well-wishers and police. "Victim of sexual assault feels it embarrassing and against her honour and dignity to disclose the incident even to her near relations or well-wishers," the judge said. PTI