NEW DELHI, India -- Additional Sessions Judge Ashwani Kumar Sarpal held the duo guilty after finding that the duo had conspired with each other in kidnapping the minor for the purpose of illicit sexual intercourse. They also held that the victim was so young that she could not even save herself and resist the attackers.
The incident took place in 2012 when the girl and her family went to her maternal uncle Abdul Gaffar's house during Holi. On March 8, 2012 she went missing while playing outside the house. Following this, when Gaffar started looking for her at 5.45 am on that day, he found his niece with a person who ran away after seeing him.
When asked, the victim confided in her uncle that one of the accused, who was accompanied by another man, forcibly abducted her after closing her mouth. Thereafter she was given bites on her lips, cheeks and chest following which she was raped.
The victim became unconscious on the day of the incident and recorded her statement a day later.
One of the accused was arrested on March 9, 2012 and the 'Pajami' (lower) of the victim was recovered at his instance. Subsequently, the second accused was also apprehended on March 12, 2012.
The accused persons who recorded their statement through sign language stated that they being falsely implicated and were ignorant about the present case.
Appearing for the accused, their counsel contended that no witnesses were joined in the probe. However, the court quashed this argument and stated that non-joining of any public witness itself was not fatal to the prosecution's case because often the general public do not easily agree to join police proceedings for a number of reasons. These include going to police station or court, fear of accused, or to maintain good relations with the accused, and to avoid any confrontation with him.
"Public persons are ready to watch the 'Tamasha' at the spot by standing at some distance but do not become ready to co-operate with the police," the judge said.
The court added that the victim has already suffered lot of trauma and grievous injuries at the hand of the accused persons. Even if the victim had not complained to anyone when she was brought back to her house, it could not be said that she was lying.
"It cannot be expected from a child of five years of age who was subjected to various injuries and sexual assault to stop people on the way and make a complaint to passersby," the judge said in its order.
The court fixed September 12 as the date for arguments on the quantum of sentence.
SOURCE - Daily News & Analysis
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