A Delhi court has sentenced a youth to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for raping a six-year-old girl in Delhi in 2012, saying the victim was a "reliable witness" and her evidence inspires confidence.
Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta handed down the jail term to 22-year-old Ajay Prasad, a watchman, under section 376(2)(f)(rape of a woman under 12 years of age) of the IPC and also imposed on him a fine of Rs 20,000.
"From the evidence on record, the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt that Ajay has committed rape with the child," the court said.
"Keeping in view the seriousness of the offence, the convict is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and a fine of Rs 20,000," it said while relying on the testimonies of the victim and her father.
The court observed that the girl's statement was also corroborated by the medical records and other evidence produced before it.
"The evidence of the victim (girl) is corroborated by her recorded statement, medical reports and testimony of her father. The girl is a reliable witness and her evidence inspires confidence..." the court said.
According to the prosecution, on February 26, 2012 the girl had gone to her father's juice shop near Railway Line at Mundka here when Ajay came there.
Ajay, who used to regularly visit the shop, took her along with him on the pretext of getting her some fish, it said.
The girl did not return for the next one hour and her father got a call from someone that his daughter had reached home and she was weeping.
When her father reached home, the girl told him that she was gagged and raped by Ajay in a deserted area, the police said.
It further said that when the girl tried to raise an alarm, Ajay gagged her and threatened her saying that her parents would be jailed if she disclosed this incident to anyone, adding an FIR was lodged by her parents and the accused was arrested the next day.
During the trial, Ajay claimed innocence saying he was falsely implicated by the victim's father as he had to pay him for the juice. The court, however, convicted him while relying on the statement of the victim and the evidence produced before it.
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