Man gets 10 years in jail for raping minor

Additional District and Sessions judge Gurvinder Kaur Tuesday sentenced a 35-year-old man to 10 years in jail for raping a minor girl in Maheshpur area of Panchkula last year. The court awarded the sentence after holding the accused,Vinod,guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in December,2012. The sentence came within nine months after the case was registered against the accused,who was charged with luring the girl to marry him and later raping her.

The sentence was awarded under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act along with a 7-year imprisonment under for raping the girl. The court,which also handed down a fine of Rs 20,00 on the accused,acquitted his cousin,Manoj,and his wife Radha of charges of conspiring in the kidnapping and rape.

The case against the accused was registered on the complaint of the victim’s parents . A FIR was registered on 2 December,2012 while the girl was kidnapped in November. The prosecution produced school records before the court to prove that the girl was a minor,while the medical examination had confirmed rape.