New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has upheld an order of a trial court which had convicted a man and sentenced him to 20-year jail for raping his minor step-daughter and making her pregnant.
"The prosecutrix (minor girl) was under the care of the appellant (convict) and he had committed repeated sexual assaults on the child, resulting in the child becoming pregnant," a single-judge bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru said and dismissed the appeal filed by a man challenging a trial court judgement dated August 2, 2016.
"The FSL report leaves no room for doubt that the petitioner had committed the offence for which he was charged. Thus, the prosecution has established its case beyond any reasonable doubt and therefore, the impugned judgment convicting the appellant for committing the offence punishable under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) and Section 506 Indian Penal Code cannot be interfered with and is upheld," the court said.
On August 2, 2016, a trial court convicted the appellant for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault on a child victim - an offence punishable under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and under Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. On August 9, 2016, the appellant was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of twenty years with a fine of Rs 5,000.
The man was prosecuted pursuant to registration of an FIR under sections 323/376/506 of the IPC and Section 4 of the POCSO Act with Police Station Shahbad Dairy.
The FIR was registered on August 7, 2014, pursuant to the statement made by a 13-year-old girl, alleging that the appellant - who is her stepfather - had forcibly raped her multiple times and had threatened that he would kill her if she disclosed the same to anybody.