Nothing can be more heinous than a father ravishing his own child, the Delhi High Court has observed while upholding the life imprisonment awarded to a man for raping and sodomising his nine-year-old daughter.
The court refused to set aside or modify the jail term imposed on the man by a trial court and dismissed his appeal, saying the crime was committed by a father who was duty-bound to provide “unflinching protection” to his daughter.
“Further, let it not be forgotten that this is a case of rape on a girl child, only nine years old at the time of commission of the offence, by her own father. Nothing can be more heinous than a crime committed on the person of a child by her father, the one who is duty-bound to provide her unflinching protection from all harm,” a Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Mukta Gupta said in a recent order.
Concurrent sentence
The Bench upheld the life imprisonment awarded to the man by a trial court in 2013 for rape and sodomy. The trial court had said the sentence would run concurrently and the man shall not be given any clemency by the State before he spends at least 20 years in jail.
The HC referred to an apex court judgment, which said it was necessary for the courts to have a sensitive approach when dealing with cases of child rape. A case was lodged against the man following a complaint by his wife, who had alleged that he had raped one of her two daughters in 2012.
The incident came to light when the minor complained of abdominal pain and was taken to a doctor by her mother. The doctor informed the woman that the girl had been sexually abused.