New Delhi: A special court in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh awarded life term to an accused  for raping and impregnating his minor daughter.

 

The matter came to light when the girl complained of stomach ache to her mother. During medical checkup, she was found five months pregnant, local police said. Additional district and sessions judge in Mathura Jahendra Pal Singh while pronouncing the order also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the accused.

  

The police had arrested the convict following a complaint filed by the victim’s mother against her husband in Govind Nagar Police Station in May 2019. The police charged the culprit under section 376 (rape) of IPC and sections 3/4 of the POCSO Act.

 

While explaining the sequence of the crime the mother said that when she was out of her house for work, when her husband took advantage of the situation and raped their daughter for eight months and impregnated her.

 

The court- appointed a counsel also who  filed an application in the court for the girl’s abortion and as per directions, a panel of doctors was formed to give their opinion in the case. The panel of doctors refused to recommend abortion on the ground that it could have been life threatening for the victim.

 

The minor girl delivered a baby boy and the child was given for adoption thereafter, a local media report said.

 

Several such cases of fathers raping their minor daughters have come to light in recent times. In February this year a POCSO court in UP’s Chitrakoot had also sentenced a man to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping his minor daughter. The man had committed the crime in February 2018.