Court upholds life term for man who raped teenage daughter

Source: thehindu.com

The Delhi High Court has upheld the life imprisonment awarded to a man for raping his 15-year-old daughter noting that the testimony of the victim by itself was sufficient.

The man was caught when his sister noticed an unusual bulge in his daughter’s belly and decided to get her checked.

The minor was found to be 28-weeks pregnant.

An FIR was registered by the convict’s sister in September 2013 at Baba Haridas Nagar police station.

The victim gave birth to a baby, which has been given up for adoption.

The complainant said she had come to stay with the convict and his family comprising his wife, two daughters aged four and 15 years and 8-year-old son.

She claimed to have noticed an unusual bulge in the victim’s belly and asked her about it. The victim then told her that her father was having physical relations with her for the past year.

‘Threatened to kill me’

The victim, in her testimony, stated that her father worked as a mason and her mother, is mentally disabled, deaf and mute.

The teenager said that her father tried to force himself upon her when she pushed him and went to her mother. But, the accused followed her and threatened to kill her after which he raped her.

She added that after the said incident, her father used to rape her regularly. The victim also said that when their previous landlord came to know about the incident, he got the house vacated.

The accused said his daughter was having an affair with a neighbour, who impregnated her. He claimed that he was being falsely implicated in the case by his sister since he refused to give her a share in the ancestral property. A Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Manoj Kumar Ohri rejected both the allegations made by the convict noting that neither the identity of the boy has been disclosed nor any material was produced to substantiate them.

“We are of the view that the testimony of the victim, which has remained un-shattered despite sustained cross-examination, is reliable,” the Bench said.