New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday held guilty a father of repeatedly raping his minor daughter for two years, reversing a trial court decision that acquitted him of all charges on the basis of delay in reporting the matter.

A bench headed by Justice Suresh Kumar Kait allowed appeals by the State as well as the victim along with her mother and brother against the acquittal, and remarked that instead of finding a “monastery” in her father’s lap, the minor girl found a “monster”.

Holding that every delay in reporting the matter cannot be branded fatal in a mechanical manner, the court noted that the victim, who was 10 years old at the time she was first raped, tolerated sexual assault by her father for approximately two years afterwards. She went to the police after noticing that her father had beaten her mother and brother instead of mending his ways, the court said.

It held that the testimony of the victim inspired full confidence and the trial court gave unwarranted weightage to superficial contradictions.

“The wrongdoer was not any outsider or stranger. The victim must have thought that she would find a ‘monastery’ in the lap of her father. Little did she realise that he was rather a ‘monster’,” the bench, also comprising Justice Manoj Jain, said.

“In view of the apparent compelling reason that the finding recorded in order of acquittal is contrary to the evidence, we have no hesitation in reversing the same. 106. Consequently, we hereby allow both the appeals and hold the respondent guilty for commission of offences punishable under Section 6 (Punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act and Sections 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) and 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) IPC,” the court held.

The trial court had passed the order in June 2019 following the registration of a case in 2013.

The court directed that the matter be listed on May 24 for arguments on sentence.

In the order, the court observed that such incidents of sexual assault are often not reported because the victim and her family members feel that their image and repute would be tarnished and even in the present case, the victim claimed to have told her mother about the incidents but she was snubbed.

The court said it “strongly” felt and believed that the incident of the father beating up her mother and brother acted as a catalyst and acted as a “saturation point” for the victim and her family and therefore the delay could not be said to be fatal.

“We need not remind ourselves that we are dealing with a matter where a daughter has been raped by her own father inside her own house, not once but repeatedly… It is not difficult to understand the dilemma of such a mother as well,” the court stated.

“In a patriarchal set up, which is still very much predominant in our country, such matters are either not reported at all or reported when it is beyond the tolerance of the victim. Here, the victim did not see any ray of hope as her father, despite being questioned, did not mend his ways and scolded not only his wife but also the victim and in such a peculiar situation, the victim kept on tolerating such sexual assault for approximately two years,” added the court.

The court remarked that had the parties immediately rushed to the police, the victim might have been saved from perpetual trauma and sought a report on the payment of compensation to her. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bahraich, UP:

A special court in UP’s Bahraich sentenced a 50-year-old man to life in prison for raping an infant. The Additional District Judge (POCSO) Varun Mohit Nigam also imposed a fine of Rs 1.29 lakh on the convict.

The man, Bhondu Rehman, raped the one-year-old girl who belonged to the Scheduled Caste, Special District Government Advocate (POCSO Act) Sant Pratap Singh said.

On February 17, the man took the girl out on some pretext. When she did not return home for a while, the family started looking for her. Soon, they found Bhondu in a mustard field with the infant who was bleeding.

After seeing the family, Bhondu ran leaving the girl, Mr Singh said.

A case was registered under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code, including for rape, and the POCSO Act.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yediyurappa has been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act over allegations of sexually harassing a teen.

The police in Bengaluru’s Sadashivanagar charged the senior BJP leader based on a complaint by the mother of the 17-year-old girl.

According to sources in the police, the girl has alleged that she was assaulted on February 2 when she and her mother visited the 81-year-old leader to seek assistance in a cheating case.

According to the FIR, the BJP leader allegedly sexually assaulted the girl after calling her into a room.

Addressing the media, Mr Yediyurappa questioned the timing of the complaint, coming just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha election. “I helped the complainant financially. The timing is questionable since the FIR comes just ahead of the polls,” he said.

The former Chief Minister claimed the girl came to him seeking help with some cases of cheating. However, she didn’t speak to him properly which gave him the idea that she may not be mentally sound, he said.

Mr Yediyurappa’s office has rubbished the allegations as baseless, accusing the mother and daughter of filing over 50 complaints in the past. A list put out by Mr Yediyurappa’s office showed 53 different complaints filed before.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said, “A lady gave a complaint to the Sadashivanagar police station against BS Yediyurappa, our former Chief Minister, saying that her daughter was molested. So the police registered the case and an investigation is on. Until and unless we know the truth, we cannot reveal anything. This is a very sensitive matter because it involves a former Chief Minister. Let’s see what the report says”.

The minister ruled out any political angle in the case and said, “I don’t think there’s a political angle to this. We don’t know the lady. She went to the police and complained. The police didn’t refuse her and registered the case.”

BS Yediyurappa served as Karnataka Chief Minister in 2007 and later from 2008 to 2011. He was chief minister again for three days in May 2018, and then from July 2019 to July 2021.