A Delhi court has sent a 70-year-old man to seven years in jail for raping his 20-year-old maid, observing that no lenient view can be taken towards him on the ground of his age as he should have thought about it before "resorting to such a shameless act".
The court held Narender Mohan Mittal, a resident of Dwarka, guilty of raping the girl and threatening her, and said that the offence of rape becomes "more odious" as it was committed by an elderly person on a young and helpless girl.
"The age and state of health of the convict (Mittal), as canvassed by his counsel do not persuade me to take a lenient view against him. It was for the convict to think about his age, health and family members before resorting to such a shameful act.
"In fact, the age of the convict makes the offence committed by him more diabolical. The offence of rape becomes more odious when it is committed by an elderly person upon a young and helpless girl, who is in his custody," Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said.
Mittal has sought leniency saying he was 70-year-old and was suffering from various ailments like diabetes, heart enlargement, blood pressure and osteoarthritis.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him.
According to the prosecution, the girl was raped by Mittal in October, 2012 when his wife, son and daughter-in-law were not at home.
Before the incident, the man was watching an obscene movie on the computer and asked her to fetch some water for him and when she returned, he caught her and raped her, the girl had told the court.
After the incident, the man left the house and locked it from outside so that the girl cannot go out and made a call to her threatening her that she would be killed if she narrated the incident to anybody.
