Man gets 20 yrs RI for raping a minor in Sonepat

The fast-track special court (exclusive under the POCSO Act) of Additional District and Sessions Judge Narender on Friday awarded 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) for raping a 16-year-old minor girl.

The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 57,000 on the convict. The court has also directed to give Rs 45,000 out of the total fine amount to the victim.

Vijender Singh, Special Public Prosecutor, said the incident was reported to the Gohana Sadar police on April 2, 2024.

Father of the victim in his complaint to the Gohana Sadar police on April 2, 2024 said that his daughter was studying in Class XII at a government school in a nearby village. She left for school on April 1 in the morning but she didn’t reach school nor returned home.

Following the complaint, the Sadar Gohana police registered a case and began a probe into the matter. The police recovered the missing girl on April 16 and got her medico legal examination and also recorded her statement before the magistrate.

On the basis of her statement, the police induced sections of POCSO Act and rape in the case. The police arrested accused Deepak of the same village for allegedly abducting and raping the minor girl on April 17 and produced him before the court.

It was revealed during the investigation that the accused took the victim in his car and kept her in a rented accommodation at Gannaur for 10 days, the Special Public Prosecutor said.

The DNA samples collected by the FSL team have been matched. On the basis of the victim and her father statements and the FSL reports the Special Court awarded punishment to convict Deepak, he added.