The court relied on the statement of the nine-year-old victim while convicting Dinesh Singh, saying that her testimony regarding the incident was "trustworthy" and "reliable".
"I do not find any grounds to disbelieve the testimony of the prosecutrix, which is otherwise trustworthy, reliable and inspires confidence.
"Accordingly, the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused that he has committed the rape with the prosecutrix and has threatened her," Additional Sessions Judge Rajneesh Kumar Gupta said and also imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on Singh.
According to police, an FIR was lodged on the statement of the minor who had said that on April 10, 2011, when she had gone to give tea to Singh, residing in the same building in which she was living, he had raped her.
Singh had threatened her not to disclose the incident to anyone but later on, she told her father about it, the prosecution said.
He was arrested and charges under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC were framed against him.
During the trial, Singh had told the court that he was being implicated in the case and his lawyer had argued that there was an "unreasonable delay" in registration of the FIR which creates a doubt in the case of prosecution.
The court, however, dismissed the submissions of the defence counsel, saying that the delay of about 14 days in registration of the FIR in the case "is only on account of the threat given by the accused to the prosecutrix".
"In my view, the prosecution has reasonably explained the delay in registration of the FIR and so...(it) does not create any doubt in the case of the prosecution," it said.
The judge also noted that there was nothing on record to disbelieve the testimony of the victim, who had narrated the entire incident before it as well as the police.
