A fast-track court in Chandigarh on Tuesday pronounced two men guilty of raping their 10-year-old niece, who delivered a baby girl in August this year. The quantum of sentence will be announced on November 2.
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“Both accused have been found to be 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),” advocate Manjit Singh, representing one of the accused, told The Hindu .
“The court of Poonam Rati Joshi pronounced the judgment holding both the accused guilty. The quantum of sentence will be announced on November 2,” he added.
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.
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The pregnancy of the victim was discovered when she complained of stomach ache in July this year 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 ordered a reinvestigation. 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.