Delhi HC sets aside acquittal of man, holds him guilty of raping minor daughter

New Delhi [India], May 15 : The Delhi High Court has reversed the acquittal of the man and held him guilty of raping the minor daughter repeatedly for two years in 2011-13. The court noted that, at the time of the incident, the victim was 10 years old.
The court held that the testimony of the victim inspires confidence and there is no reason to distrust her.
The division bench of justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain reversed the judgement and said, "We are, thus, of the firm view that the trial court has misread and misinterpreted the evidence and the analysis of the evidence is based on conjectured inferences, necessitating us to interfere with such an order of acquittal."
"Therefore, in view of the apparent compelling reason that the finding recorded in the order of acquittal is contrary to the evidence, we have no hesitation in reversing the same," the division bench said.
The High Court allowed two appeals filed by the state and another by the victim, her mother and brother. It held the respondent (father) guilty for the commission of offences punishable under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and Sections 506 and 323 of the IPC.
The matter has been listed for hearing on May 24 for arguments on sentence.
"It seems that the trial court got swayed because of the delay in reporting the matter. The trial court also gave unwarranted weight to the contradictions, which were superficial in nature," the High Court observed.
The High Court added that the substance of the testimony of all three witnesses appears to have a 'ring of truth' as they all corroborated one another.
The division bench said, "We also do not find any reason to hold that it was a motivated or planted case. Moreover, we are not inclined to hold that merely because there were minor quarrels between the respondent and his wife, the victim would churn out a story claiming that she was being sexually assaulted for the last two years."
The High Court also noted that the wrongdoer was not an 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'.
"Unfortunately, neither she nor her mother could muster enough courage to report the incident to the police. Had they immediately rushed to the police, the victim might have been saved from perpetual trauma," the bench said.
As per the prosecution, the accused used to work as a security guard.
The victim approached the police on January 19, 2013 and revealed that her father had been sexually assaulting her for quite some time.
She claimed that one day, when her father was jobless, he did not let her go to school and during the noon hour, she was alone at the house with him, as her mother was away to work and her brother was in school. Her father made her sleep by his side. He then touched her private parts and when she resisted, he rebuked her. He then sexually assaulted her.
She divulged the above incident to her mother but when her mother confronted him, he scolded her. He even asked her why she had told everything to her mother. She also revealed that her father had been exploiting her for the last two years and sexually assaulted her on January 4, 2013.
He was charged with the offences under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), Section 506 IPC (for threatening victim) and Section 323 IPC (for beating his son and wife).