The court noted in its verdict that the child victim had narrated the entire incident succinctly before the trial court during recording of her statement and there were no reasons which warranted imposition of a lesser sentence to the accused keeping in view the brutality of the crime.
“Coming to the quantum of sentence, the victim was only seven years old child when this gruesome and abhorring act of committing rape was committed by the accused (Doodh Nath),” Justice Sunita Gupta said.
“Such an act leaves a permanent scar on the personality of the child, inhibiting growth and development. It instills a feeling of fear, insecurity and a brooding sense of shame and guilt for no fault of the victim,” the court said.
The trial court awarded 10 year jail to Nath along with a fine of Rs 18,000 after convicting him for the offence under Section 376(2)(f) (raping a woman below 12-year-old) of the IPC.
According to the police, on April 18, 1996 the child had gone to play outside her house when Nath, who was residing in a nearby temple, took her to his room and raped her. It said that Nath left her outside her house after which she narrated the incident to her parents who lodged an FIR in the matter and the accused was arrested.
During adjudication of the case before the trial court, the accused had claimed that he was falsely implicated.Nath was convicted and sentenced by the trial court in July 2000 after which he had filed the appeal.