A 33-year-old man who raped his relative’s two-year-old daughter has been sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment by a Sessions court here.
Additional Sessions Judge M. C. Gupta awarded the jail term to the convict, a mason, for raping the child in 2010 when her parents had gone out for work.
“After delicately balancing and giving due consideration to the facts and circumstances, the aggravating and mitigating factors and circumstances in which the offence had been committed, I am of the considered opinion that the end of justice can be met by sentencing the convict to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000 in default thereof to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years under Section 376 (2)(f) (raping a minor) of the Indian Penal Code,” the judge said.
Mr. Gupta said the prosecution has proved the convict’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt and there was no room for hypothesis. The prosecution version was that the child’s father lodged a complaint against the convict, who was his uncle, alleging that on August 19, 2010, he and his wife had gone to their work while the victim was at home with his brother and the convict.
The father of the child said that when he returned home in the afternoon, he saw the victim seated on the lap of the accusedand crying.
On being asked as to what happened, the convict was evasive and picked up his clothes and fled. The complaint also claimed that the child pointed towards the accused and again started crying.
