Man jailed for life for raping and sodomising minor daughter

A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court here for raping and sodomising his nine-year-old daughter, saying that the girl child is to be "worshipped" and not "raped".
A fast track court, trying sexual offence cases against women, said the crime committed by the convict, being the father of the victim, was "intensely grave, serious and barbaric in nature" and also made it clear that he would not be entitled to any clemency till he spends at least 20 years in jail.
"There is no crime more heinous and ghastly than the present one and no other crime can be more humiliating and disgraceful for a man than act of seducing his own daughter.

"The girl child is considered incarnation of Mata Lakshmi in a household. Hindu religion ordains us to worship the girl child as the manifestation of Goddess Lakshmi. There is a tradition prevalent in the Hindus to worship minor girls on the last day of Navratras which is known as 'Kanjak Puja'...
"The girl child is to be worshipped and not raped. Sexual assault upon a girl child is the most sinful, barbaric and savage atrocity and hence not only highly deplorable but severely punishable. One fails to imagine how a person would think of ravishing a minor innocent girl and that too when the girl is his own daughter who, in fact, deserves to be worshipped as a form of Goddess Durga," Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Virender Bhat said, imposing fine of Rs 60,000 on the convict.

A rape case was registered against the man, a resident of Najafgarh, in September last year by his wife alleging that he had raped and sodomised their minor daughter several times.
The woman told the police that her child was complaining of stomach pain from past several days and she had consulted various doctors but there was no relief to the minor. After noticing swelling in the child's body, she again took her to doctor who told her that the child was sexually assaulted.
The minor then told her mother about her father's act and a case was registered against him, the police had said.