A fast track court in Chandigarh on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to two men held guilty of raping their 10-year-old niece. The court also imposed a fine of ₹3,05,000 each. The victim delivered a baby girl in August this year, after her abortion plea was rejected by the Supreme Court.
“The court has sentenced both the accused to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹3,05,000 on each,” advocate Manjit Singh, representing one of the accused, told The Hindu .
The court last Tuesday pronounced both the accused guilty of rape under Section 376 (2) (f) (i) (n) (for raping a minor) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5 (L) and 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. (POCSO).
The minor girl delivered a baby girl in August this year, after her abortion plea was rejected by the Supreme Court on July 28. She was 32 weeks pregnant.
The pregnancy of the victim was discovered when she complained of stomach ache in July and was taken to a hospital, where it was found that she was around 30 weeks pregnant.
The victim, as per the complaint, was allegedly raped by her elder and younger uncles repeatedly since last year, both hailing from Nepal.
Notably, one of the accused (elder uncle) was arrested on July 14 after an FIR was registered against him on the complaint of victim’s mother. However, when the DNA of the newly born didn’t match with the arrested accused, the Chandigarh police reinvestigated the matter. When the victim, during her counselling session, mentioned the name of the second accused (younger uncle) the police made another arrest.
The second uncle’s DNA matched with the baby, following which he was made the main accused in the rape case.
