A man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Delhi court for raping a 10-year-old girl while rejecting his "lame excuse" that the minor was pressurising him to marry her.
Additional Sessions Judge Raghubir Singh convicted 24- year-old Bihar resident Vikas of the offence of aggravated penetrative sexual assault under provision of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court also awarded a compensation of Rs two lakh to the girl and said, if the government deems it fit, it may give her higher compensation.
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"It stands proved beyond reasonable doubt that accused established forceful physical relations with the victim child more than once between September 30, 2013 to October 2, 2013 amounting to the offence of rape," the court said.
According to the prosecution, the child had gone out on the morning of September 30, 2013 to purchase some articles from a nearby shop but did not return. Her parents then lodged a missing complaint at New Ashok Nagar police station in east Delhi.
The girl returned her home after three days and told her parents and the police that the man had forcibly taken her to a room where he repeatedly raped her.
During the trial, the man claimed that he and the girl were friends she was pressurising him to marry and when he refused, he was falsely implicated in the case.
The court termed it to be "a lame excuse" and said his defence was "vague".
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