Nagpur: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday upheld the life imprisonment of a Chandrapur man convicted of sexually assaulting his minor daughter, saying a father accused of raping his own child represents one of the most “shocking and heinous crimes in which he degraded the soul of the helpless girl”. The rape survivor was 12 years old at the time of the assault and was 27 weeks pregnant, when the case was registered at the local police station. After she gave birth, a DNA test on the newborn proved the accused’s paternity link.A division bench of Justices Urmila Joshi Phalke and Nivedita Mehta dismissed the convict’s appeal and affirmed the trial court’s judgement under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and relevant provisions of Indian Penal Code.“Rape is not merely a physical assault, but it is often destructive to the whole personality of the survivor and matters of such allegations must be dealt with utmost sensitivity,” the bench said.The court noted that the rape survivor lost her mother and was dependent on her father. It said her inability to immediately name the perpetrator was “justified and natural” in the circumstances.“The accused father subjected her to sexual assault at a tender age,” the bench said, referring to the evidence, which further disclosed that the victim underwent acute mental trauma. “She could not disclose the incident to anybody as her father was involved,” the judges said.The court added the case involved a grave breach of trust. “The evidence shows that the trust which a child carries about his or her father itself is betrayed by the accused. The accused, who was a protector, has ruined the physical as well as mental state of mind of his own daughter, and destroyed her future.”The case began after an Asha worker filed a police complaint on April 15, 2021. According to the complaint, the worker found the survivor during a village survey and suspected she was pregnant. The next day, she took the girl first to a primary health centre and then to the general hospital, where doctors found her to be 27 weeks pregnant.The survivor did not disclose the assault when questioned. During the pendency of the probe, the survivor gave birth. The investigation later pointed to her father after a DNA test on the newborn.The Chandrapur sessions court convicted the man of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under POCSO, along with other offences, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The high court said the DNA report, medical evidence and surrounding circumstances completed the prosecution’s chain of evidence.The bench said the convict, being in a position of trust and dominance, took undue advantage of the survivor and violated her privacy and personal integrity, causing serious physical and psychological harm.The court said the survivor had a fundamental and human right to live free from fear, threat and danger, including within her own family, and held that the trial court was justified in imposing life imprisonment.
