Two sentenced to life imprisonment for raping ten-year-old

A Chandigarh court sentenced two men, guilty of repeatedly raping their ten-year-old niece, to life imprisonment.

Kul Bahadur and his younger brother Shankar were arrested after the victim alleged she was raped by the two repeatedly over a period of an year. The victim delivered a girl on August 17.

While Bahadur was arrested soon after the compliant was filed by the victim's mother in July, Shankar's arrest came two months later when the DNA sample of the baby did not match with Bahadur.

"The Defence Counsel argued that there was no evidence against Bahadur as the DNA sample did not match with that of the newborn. But the next clinching evidence against him was the victim's statement wherein she had clearly stated that she was raped by him as well," said Public Prosecutor Atul Sethi, who demanded maximum punishment.

The Court of Additional District and Session Judge Poonam R Joshi also imposed a fine of Rs 3.5 lakh which is to be paid as financial relief to the minor victim.

The incident had left the city astounded after the girl was found to be 26-weeks pregnant in July. Citing severe medical complications, a local court had rejected her plea for abortion, after which a PIL was filed in Supreme Court. However, the plea was also turned down by the Apex Court after a medical examination report by PGI, citing risk to her life.

The victim delivered a girl on August 17, who was shifted to a child-care home for initiating a process of legal adoption, while the victim who was a school-going child was sent home.