The Delhi High Court Monday upheld the life sentence to a "habitual sex offender" convicted of kidnapping and raping a minor girl, terming the case was another "horrifying incident of rape committed on a minor".
Justice Kailash Gambhir and Justice Indermeet Kaur, terming the convict Gurvinder Singh, a resident of Rohini in north Delhi, as a "habitual sex offender" and "menace to the society", denied leniency to him after taking note of the two earlier similar cases against him.
"Can such a person deserve any mercy or leniency who is a habitual offender? The answer certainly is an emphatic no. The appellant appears to be a habitual offender and is a menace to the society," the court said.
The bench also the chances of his being "reformed and rehabilitated are bleak".
"It is most unfortunate for his father, who is an ex-army officer, to face shame for the acts of his son who is a living beast, having no respect or regard for women and love for small children..," the bench added.
As per the prosecution on July 25, 2008, Singh had raped the the 10 year-old girl from an under construction house where she was sleeping along with her mother, brothers and sisters, after taking her to his house. He also threatened the girl not to reveal it to anyone.
"The accused (Singh) was bent upon ravishing the body and soul of the victim, a child of tender years of age, whose body was not yet logically grown up to take such an onslaught," the bench said.
Singh had moved the high court challenging the life term awarded to him by a trial court under various offences of the Indian Penal Code including one of rape.