his crime warranted severe punishment.
An Indian man has been sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and raping his own stepdaughter.
The incident occurred on February 2, 2013, when the stepdaughter was just a minor.
As well as the life sentence, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act court judge Amar Singh also fined him £200,000.
Speaking of the Indian man’s conviction, Additional District Government Counsel (ADGC) Subhash Chandra Chaturvedi said:
“The learned Additional Special Judge POCSO Act, court no 2, Amar Singh also ordered the government would pay £200,000 to the victim girl in case the convict fails to deposit the fine.”
The Indian man kidnapped the girl, aged 15 at the time, and raped her when her mother went to visit a relative.
The child’s mother married the Indian man four years after the death of her first husband, expecting him to support the family.
When the mother returned from her visit, she filed a complaint against him. She also alleged that he stole a motorbike, jewellery and £1,000 cash from her.
An FIR was registered against the man under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including kidnapping, abducting or inducing the woman to compel her for marriage and rape.
A special court in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura said that the man deserved no leniency, and handed him a life sentence.
The defence counsel requested that the court take a more lenient view of the Indian man’s case.
Their reason for this was that he is both poor and a first-time offender. However, the judge quickly rejected the plea.
He said that the accused was the father and custodian of the victim. As well as this, the girl was under the age of 16 when the incident occurred.
Therefore, his crime warranted severe punishment.
Life prison sentences for sexual assaults are not unheard of throughout the world.
In February 2020, a GP from East London was given three life sentences for over 90 sexual assault offences on 24 female patients.
In his defence, GP Manish Shah claimed that he had been practising “defensive medicine.” However, Judge Anne Molyneux QC handed the man a severe conviction of three life sentences.
The judge told Shah:
“You were a master of deception and you abused your position of power. This was a horrible abuse of trust and caused incalculable harm.
“The details show a pattern of behaviour over five years.
“Your behaviour was not only sexual but was driven by your desire to control and on occasions humiliate women.”
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