Man jailed for 10 years for kidnapping, raping toddler

A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment by a Delhi court for kidnapping and raping a toddler after taking the child from her father on the pretext of playing with her.
The court awarded the jail term to Bablu, a waiter, after holding him guilty of kidnapping, wrongfully confining and raping the two-year-old child.
"I am of the considered opinion that the ends of justice can be met by sentencing convict Bablu to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years under Section 376 IPC (rape)," Additional Sessions Judge M C Gupta said.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Bablu.

According to the police, on the intervening night of May 24-25, 2009, the child was playing with her father outside their house and their neighbour came there and also started playing with the minor.
When the girl's father told Bablu, a resident of village Badli here, to give him his daughter and that he should also sleep as it was getting late, the accused asked the complainant to give the child to him and that he would leave her after playing with her, the police said.

After sometime, when the child did not return home, her father started searching for her but could not find her, it said.

The next morning, when the victim's father saw Bablu returning home, he asked him about his daughter but the accused could not give any satisfactory answer to which other neighbours were also called, the police said.
The accused then disclosed that he had kept the minor in a park, it said, adding that the child was recovered by her parents in an injured and semi-conscious state with the help of policemen and neighbours.
During the trial, Bablu, who was working as a waiter with a caterer, claimed innocence and said he was falsely implicated in the case.