'Breached trust being neighbour': Man gets lifer for minor's rape

New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) A Delhi court has awarded life-term imprisonment to a man for raping a 15-year-old girl and said the crime warranted a severe sentence.

Additional sessions judge Babita Puniya, who kept in mind "society’s interest in protecting vulnerable children from horrendous" crimes, had convicted the man under Section 376 (2) (n) (repeated rape) of the IPC and Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act.

Special public prosecutor Sharawan Kumar Bishnoi argued the convict did not deserve any leniency and said the survivor bore a child due to the rape.

Referring to the survivor's testimony, the court said the girl would refer to the man as "uncle" but he sexually assaulted her twice -- once in September and then in December 2023 -- on finding her alone.

"The convict did not care that the victim used to call him 'uncle' or that she was his neighbor’s daughter. In our Indian culture, when parents go somewhere, they ask their neighbours to take care of their children and the convict betrayed and breached that trust rendering the offence more serious," the court said.

The court's verdict of March 10 added, "Child Rape is atrocious. Children are the most precious asset of any society. It is the duty of the society not only to protect them from sexual violence and predation but also provide them with a safe environment where they can flourish." Taking advantage of the victim being alone, the court said, the convict repeatedly quenched "his lust".

"The child born to the victim has been given to the special adoption agency for adoption. Thus, not only the victim and her family but the child born to the victim is also the victim of the convict’s crime," it added.

The aggravating circumstances in the case far outweighed the mitigating circumstances and the convict had "dismally failed" to show substantial and compelling reasons for taking a lenient view, the court said.

"Life sentence would serve the interest of justice as well as the society and it will also not destroy the convict, though it will serve as a general deterrence," the order held.

The court also awarded Rs 19.5 lakh compensation to the survivor. PTI MNR AMK