HC sentences man to 15 yrs jail for raping differently-abled minor girl

The Delhi High Court Tuesday sentenced a man to 15 years imprisonment for raping a differently-abled minor girl five years ago.

The man, Chattu Lal, was arrested after the incident in August 2013 and has been in jail for last over five years.

The high court upheld a trial court's verdict holding the man guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl and awarding him 15 years in jail.

Justice Anu Malhotra said there was no infirmity in the verdict of the trial court convicting the man for the offence of penetrative sexual assault on the child under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The court also passed a slew of directions for the man's remaining jail term so that the sentence "acts as a deterrent" and is simultaneously reformative with a prospect of rehabilitation.

It directed the concerned superintendent of jail, where the convict is lodged, to "consider ensuring an appropriate correctional courses through meditation therapy, educational opportunity, vocational training and skill development programme to enable a livelihood option and an occupational status".

The superintendent shall consider a programme for shaping of post release rehabilitation programme for the convict well in advance before the date of his release to make him self-dependent and ensuring his protection from getting associated with antisocial groups, agencies of moral hazards like gambling dens, drinking places and