Nagpur: The Special Judge O P Jaiswal in Nagpur has sentenced a man to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping and sexually abusing his own 11-year-old daughter.
The convict had tied the nuptial knot with the victim’s mother though he was already married. After the victim was born, he left her mother and started staying with his first wife. After some days, the girl’s mother asked her daughter to stay at her father’s house and later married another man. The girl, who was 11-year old in November 2019 and studying in Standard VI, was grabbed from the back by her father when she was changing her clothes. As she started shouting, he stuffed cotton balls in her mouth and tied her legs with a rope. He then raped his daughter and threatened to kill her if she narrated the incident to anyone.
Next day, he again raped her. The victim complained to her step mother that her father was sexually exploiting her. However, her stepmother told her to keep silent. Her father continued exploiting his minor daughter till February 23, 2020. On March 2, 2020, the victim was on her way to school. She met her grandmother on the bus. She narrated her ordeal to her grandmother who immediately informed the victim’s mother about it. The victim’s mother came and took her daughter to Umred Police Station and lodged a complaint against the culprit.
On the basis of the complaint, police registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act against the victim’s father. The then API Sonali Rathod investigated the case and chargesheeted the accused father. As the charges were proved against him, the Special Court awarded him 20 years RI with a fine of Rs 50,000.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Rashmi Khaperde represented the State.