Lucknow: A court in Barabanki on Wednesday sentenced a 30-year-old man to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life for raping a five-year-old girl in 2025.Additional district judge Gyan Prakash Shukla also imposed a fine of Rs 1.10 lakh on Deshraj Dhiman, a resident of Barabanki. The court directed that Rs 50,000 from the fine be paid to the survivor as compensation.According to govt counsel Purushottam Mishra, the case was registered at Baddu Sarai police station on May 20, 2025. The verdict was delivered around 15 months after the FIR was lodged.According to the prosecution, the girl was playing outside her house when she went missing. Her family launched a search and was informed that Dhiman had taken her away.Acting on the information, the girl’s father followed the route taken by the accused and reached a nearby forested area, where he found Dhiman with the child. The accused fled after spotting the girl’s father.The child had multiple injuries on her body. She told her family that Dhiman had lured her towards the forest on the pretext of giving her a toffee. The prosecution further stated that the accused was drunk at the time of the incident.Police filed a chargesheet and the case proceeded to trial. After examining the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the court found Dhiman guilty and awarded the sentence.
