HC upholds 10-yr jail term of man for raping minor

Delhi High Court has upheld the 10-year rigorous jail term awarded to a convict for raping a five-year-old girl observing that such "gruesome and abhorring act" leaves a permanent scar on the personality of the child.
Dismissing the appeal of convict Mithu Rai against the trial court order, Justice Sunita Gupta relied on the testimony of the girl and observed that such offenders deserve severe punishment.
"The victim was only a five-year-old child when this gruesome and abhorring act of rape was committed by the accused. Such an act leaves a permanent scar on personality of the child, inhibiting growth and development.

"It instils a feeling of fear, insecurity and a brooding sense of shame and guilt for no fault of the victim," the high court said in the judgement on Tuesday.
Noting that the trial court had awarded a sentence of 10 years -- the minimum sentence prescribed under section 376(2)(f) (rape of a woman under 12 years of age) of the IPC, the court said "there was no discretion vested in the court to impose a lesser sentence which the facts and circumstances of the case even otherwise did not warrant."
"I see absolutely no reason to disbelieve the testimony of the prosecutrix who withstood the test of cross examination," Justice Gupta said as she rejected the objections raised by Rai that he was convicted on the sole evidence of the victim.

The court, in its verdict, said that victim's testimony cannot be brushed aside on the "flimsy plea" raised by Rai as according to the settled legal proposition, testimony of victim was sufficient to bring home the guilt of the accused.

It also referred to an earlier judgement of the Supreme Court in which it termed rapists as "menace to the civilized society" who "should be mercilessly and inexorably punished in the severest terms."
As per the prosecution, on September 12, 2007, the girl was playing with other children near her North Delhi home, when Rai called her on pretext of giving money, took her to his house, raped her and let her free by giving Rs two.

The child had informed her elder sister about the incident following which an FIR was registered.
Rai had denied the allegations alleging that he was falsely implicated in the case.
On October 11, 2010, the trial court had sentenced Rai to 10 years imprisonment after convicting him for offence under section 376(2)(f) (commits rape on a woman when she is under twelve years of age) of the IPC.