A local court has sentenced a man to 10 years imprisonment for raping a five-year-old girl observing that across the country "childhood is at risk".
Additional sessions judge Sanjay Garg, while awarding the jail term to 34-year-old Deepak Rai, said recent "horrific" incidents have created a "furore" in the society.
"The victim in this case is just aged about five and half years and she was subjected to horrific and sadistic sexual assault. A recent report by Asian Centre for Women Rights says that incidents of child rape have multiplied in the last decade.
"The recent horrific incidents of rape have created a furore in the society. It appears that across the nation the childhood is at risk. The children of this age are vulnerable and are easy prey to such sexual assaults. In view of these circumstances the convict (Deepak) deserves no leniency," the court said and also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 on the convict.
The judge said that copy of the order be sent to Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA), East, with a direction to pay compensation to the victim as per the provisions of Delhi government under the victim compensation scheme.
According to police, on July 5, 2011, when the minor was playing outside her house, Deepak, who was her neighbour, took her to the roof of his house on the pretext of giving her something to eat and raped her.
Deepak, a resident of Trilokpuri in east Delhi, had also committed unnatural offence with the girl, the police said.
When the girl returned her home, she was crying and told her mother about the incident and the family got registered case against the accused.
During the trial, Deepak claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case but the court convicted saying that the statement of the victim was credible.
