Man gets imprisonment-till-death for raping 8-year-old daughter

MUMBAI: A Shivaji Nagar resident was convicted of raping his eight-year-old daughter, though the survivor and her mother turned hostile, and sentenced to life imprisonment — till death — by a special POCSO court.

“The act of the accused is a betrayal of the faith in humanity, and this is a clear case of the protector turning a predator,” said special judge Nazera S Shaikh while convicting the accused.

“In almost every culture, father primarily plays the role of a protector, provider, disciplinarian. Father-daughter relationship plays a vital role in a girl’s journey to adulthood. A father is the first man in a girl’s life, and he is the one who sets the standard for all,” added the court.

“The informant (complainant — the mother of the girl) and the victim (eight-year-old survivor) want the accused to be released due to their dependency on him.

“It may be due to family pressure, social stigma, trauma of the abuse or fear of the accused that the victim and informant back out (sic) from testifying against the accused,” said the special court.

“However, corroboration of the complaint in the form of medical evidence proves penetrative sexual assault on the victim,” it added.

According to the prosecution, the case was registered with the Shivaji Nagar police on October 12, 2020, sometime after the incident. The girl was alone at home, as her mother and older brother had gone visit a relative.

The mother of the girl informed the police that when she returned home around 6 pm, she found the door of the house was not properly shut. She rushed in when she heard her daughter screaming and saw her husband forcing himself on their daughter.

The woman claimed that she pushed the accused aside and rescued her daughter. Hearing the noise, their neighbours gathered and started thrashing the accused. One of them called the police. The accused was taken to the police station and a case was registered against him.

During the trial, public prosecutor SR Tiwari examined the mother, the survivor, the investigating officer and the medical officer. The mother and the child turned hostile and refused to support the prosecution case.

During her cross examination by the prosecutor, the woman said she lodged the police complaint out of anger she had fought with her husband.

The woman claimed she was illiterate, and her thumb impression was taken on the complaint. She stated that her thumb impression was also taken by the medical officer even though had not consented for the medical examination of her daughter.

In her deposition, the survivor denied the rape and stated that at the time of the incident she was at her grandmother’s place.

She added that her father was a good person and had not committed any bad act with her. She added that her mother and father were quarrelling over the room.

The medical report, however, revealed that there were injuries on the private parts of the survivor and were indicative of a sexual assault.

Relying on the medical evidence, the court said, the accused is the husband of the complainant and father of the survivor and being the bread winner of the family, they depend on him. In her cross-examination, the woman said that she wanted her husband to be released and take care of them, “since she has to beg for a living and could not pay rent”.