A local court in Delhi has convicted the accused in the case of raping a minor girl and sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. The accused committed this crime in the year 2022. The court termed this act as disgusting and said that the punishment should be in accordance with the severity.
The case was being heard in the court of Additional Sessions Judge Sushil Bala Dagar. The accused was earlier convicted for the crime under Section 6 of the POCSO Act. Apart from this, he was also convicted under the provisions of rape, kidnapping and forcing for marriage of the IPC.
Additional Public Prosecutor Yogita Kaushik Dahiya appeared in the court on behalf of the state. The court said, “In this case, the gravity of the crime, the age of the victim and the convict, the family situation of the victim, the social and economic factors and circumstances controlling them have been taken into consideration.”
The court also sentenced him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for the crime of kidnapping and forcing a woman to marry. In his verdict delivered on Monday, the judge said that all these sentences will run simultaneously. There is a provision of fine in case of not serving the sentence.
The minor girl was kidnapped on March 5, 2022. After this, the accused had an illicit relationship with her by promising marriage. The court said that the psychological scars of sexual abuse in childhood are indelible and they continue to haunt the person forever, thereby hampering physical and psychological development.
The court said, “Such people make child victims their prey by luring them with the promise of marriage. In this way, they not only keep the victim away from studies, but also affect their life badly. Therefore, the punishment should be in accordance with the gravity of the heinous act, so that the message can be sent to the society.
Not only this, the court condemned the investigation of Delhi Police and said that IO Bimlesh failed to collect documents of the first marriage of the accused who sexually assaulted the victim. The police officer did not even check the register of the temple where the minor was married.
In this case, many mistakes have been made by the police, which shows that the conduct of the investigating officer is faulty. Appropriate departmental action is recommended against the investigating officer. However, despite all the shortcomings, the testimony of the victim girl was strong, due to which the culprit was punished.