Chandigarh: A fast-track trial court in Chandigarh on Thursday sentenced two brothers for raping their 10-year-old niece, who gave birth to a child in August, to life in prison till death and imposed a fine of Rs 3,50,000 in the harrowing case that made headlines both in India and globally.
The girl told the police that she was first raped by the younger uncle, a cook with the same hotel as his brother, around Christmas in 2016. The older uncle, too, assaulted her repeatedly from April till early July, she said. She didn’t name the younger uncle initially, fearing he would kill her parents.
The court had found both guilty under Section 376 (2) (f) (i) (n) of the IPC and Section 5 (l) (m), punishable under Section 6 of the POCSO Act. The case caught the attention of the national and international media when the 10-year-old was found pregnant.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs three lakh five thousand to each out of which Rs three lakh is to be paid as compensation to the victim.
Younger uncle is in maroon Golf t-shirt and police taking him way after announcement of sentence
The court of additional district and sessions judge Poonam R Joshi also directed the Chandigarh State Legal Services Authority (CSLSA) for a compensation to the girl.
The prosecution pleaded for a life term calling it an instance of a ‘rarest of rare’ case as the two men had broken the trust of the family as well as that of the child. The defence, however, called for mercy and said both the convicts were the only earning members of their families.
The girl was found to be 30-weeks pregnant when her mother took her to a hospital after she complained of a stomach ache in July. Her parents approached a local court with a plea to abort the foetus but it dismissed their petition as the doctors said the procedure would be too risky for the girl.
Later, the Supreme Court also refused to allow an abortion for her on similar grounds.
Police arrested her mother’s cousin, who was a guard at a local hotel, for rape on the girl’s complaint. But the case turned on its head after the DNA samples of the girl’s child — who was born on August 17 — didn’t match with those of the uncle, as first reported by Hindustan Times on September 11.
Seventeen days later, police arrested the man’s younger brother, who turned out to be the main accused.
POCSO Act suggests that the victim’s protection is of utmost importance and there were talks of rehabilitating the girl but the family does not want any change in the status quo
The girl told the police that she was first raped by the younger uncle, a cook with the same hotel as his brother, around Christmas in 2016. The older uncle, too, assaulted her repeatedly from April till early July, she said. She didn’t name the younger uncle initially, fearing he would kill her parents.
The family was earlier given Rs1 lakh under the Chandigarh Victim Assistance Scheme, 2012, so far and the remaining ₹9 lakh is part of a fixed deposit, yet to be released.
State legal services authority (SLSA) member secretary Mahavir Singh said it was done in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directions on August 25.
As the father didn’t seek the compensation, the money was put in her mother’s account to provide a special diet to the girl when she was pregnant with the provision that if the father asked for any amount later, it would be available from the fixed deposit account.
The girl’s parents are not keen on moving her to a government-run home.
“The child welfare committee (CWC) is guided by the principle that the child’s best interest should be protected,” said its chairperson Sangita Vardhan. “In this case, her home is where she is most comfortable, and we don’t see any harm to her from her immediate family.”
An official from the committee has been counselling the girl and taking care of her.
The committee provides feedback to the director of the social welfare department, which sends the status report to the Supreme Court, the final of which will go for the hearing on November 9.