NEW DELHI: A court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for raping a five-year-old girl, saying the child was treated “with animal-like passion” by the convict.
Expressing distress at the increasing rate of crimes against children, the court said the penalty should be commensurate with the gravity of the “heinous act” so that it serves as an effective deterrence.
Additional Sessions Judge Susheel Bala Dagar of Rohini district court was hearing the case against the man, earlier convicted under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The 28-year-old man was also convicted of the penal offences of kidnapping, causing grievous hurt and rape.
Additional Public Prosecutor Yogita Kaushik said the “abominable and reprehensible acts” of the convict do not deserve sympathy. She said that while kidnapping the child, the man bit her cheeks and smacked her face with such force that her teeth broke.
In an order passed on July 11, the judge said, “Her dignity and purity of physical frame was shattered. The saying that the child is a gift to society seems to be absurd due to a person like the convict and the victim for no fault of hers had to bear such torment,” the judge added.
The court said the sexual offence had deeply impacted the child’s life and so the sentence should be “commensurate with the gravity of the heinous act so as it served as an effective deterrence to the like-minded persons”.
“Taking into consideration the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, including the gravity of the offence, the age of the child and the convict, the family condition of the convict and the child victim, and social and economic factors governing them, the convict is sentenced for life imprisonment for the offence punishable under section 6 of the POCSO Act,” it said.
The court also sentenced him to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for the offences of kidnapping and causing grievous hurt. It also awarded her a compensation of Rs 10.5 lakh.