Man sentenced to life in jail for repeatedly raping his 7-yr-old daughter

A man was on Wednesday sentenced to life in jail till his death by a special POCSO court in Jhalawar near here for raping his seven-year-old, motherless daughter repeatedly.

POCSO Court's Special Judge Aneesh Dadhich held the man guilty of repeatedly raping his daughter on the basis of deposition by his mother that her son had committed a "disgusting and shameful crime" and she no longer wanted to hear his name.

After convicting the accused under various sections of the Indisan Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 70,000 on the convict, Public Prosecutor Lalchand Meena said.

The case against the man, whose wife had died years ago leaving her two-month-old daughter in his custody, was lodged in December 2017, when the hapless child first revealed her ordeal to an Anganwadi worker.

She used to go to an Anganwadi centre for her pre primary classes, said Meena.

The Anganwadi worker in turn, informed the matter to the state's Child Welfare Committee, which reported the matter to the police after the child repeated her story to the CWC members during counselling.

Following the startling revelations, the CWC members rescued the child from her father's custody and lodged a complaint against the child's father with Mahila Police station on December 1, 2017, he added.

During the trial of the case, the court examined 26 witnesses, including the child's grandmother and 51 documents were produced before the court, said Meena.