Youth in Delhi gets 12-year jail term for raping minor

A Delhi court has sentenced a youth to 12 years in prison for raping a nine-year-old girl in 2009.

The court sent Sanjeet Sahni, 25, to jail saying he "misused the liberty and indulgence" which the father of the victim had given him by providing shelter in his home.

"I am of considered opinion that the convict should be awarded a substantive, stern and firm sentence because he misused the liberty and indulgence granted to him by the father of the victim who gave him shelter in his home while the convict had come to Delhi and he, taking the advantage, defiled the child," additional sessions judge Kamini Lau said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on the convict and said he had taken advantage of a "helpless and defenceless child".

"The convict has taken advantage of a helpless and defenceless child who could not even try to escape or express herself and was an easy and vulnerable prey.

"In spite of the tender age of the child, the convict went on to commit the ghastly, abominable, inhuman and barbaric act of rape, violating the person of the child and giving a lifelong trauma to her family," the court said.

Sahni had come to Delhi in search of work and was staying with the victim's family.

He had absconded after raping the minor girl in March 2009. Sahni was arrested from Samastipur Railway Station in Bihar.

The court convicted him relying on the testimony of the victim, who identified him as the person who had raped her. The court said the medical and forensic evidence corroborated the girl's deposition.