3 min readNew DelhiJul 30, 2013 03:11 AM IST
First published on: Jul 30, 2013 at 03:11 AM IST
Noting that cases of child rape had increased 336 per cent over the last 10 years,according to National Crime Records Bureau statistics,the Delhi High Court has suggested that there was a need to involve Bar associations,Residents’ Welfare Associations,NGOs and others to arrange sensitisation and education programmes to inform people about the law and need for “quicker resort to the problems of each and every aggrieved female child”.
“The cases of rape and gangrape are on the rise and perpetrators of this inhuman and brutal crime are worse than even the beasts and deserve to be dealt with a heavy hand. They need to be dealt with sternly and severely,” Justice Kailash Gambhir said in his judgment,dismissing the appeal by a man sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a two-year-old girl.
The court also said: “Steps imparting knowledge of law to all the classes,explaining to people that the consequences of any sort of harm being caused to the women,can make them suffer drastically should be adopted.”
“Thirty per cent of the rape cases involve minor girls between one and seven years old,and these are frequently noticed in the most downtrodden and backward villages,where there exist no whiff or knowledge of any law prevailing in the society but the entire concept is based on male chauvinism,” Justice Gambhir said.
The convict,Umed Singh,was seen raping the girl in October 2006. He was beaten up by bystanders and handed over to the police. The child had suffered injuries to her private parts,besides multiple bruises on her face and chest.
“A man,before even developing that beastly thought,should feel that eke in his nerves,that a moment of pleasure,or a mere fulfilment of a few minutes desire with such horrendous intentions can cost him his entire life,” the court said.
Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009. His counsel had pleaded for reduction of his sentence,arguing that Singh should be “given a chance to reform himself” as he had committed the act “due to many deprivations in his life and also due to his economic and social condition”.
Singh had been working as a labourer in the Shakur Basti area of West Delhi at the time. The advocate had argued that he should have been given the minimum prescribed sentence of 10 years instead of life imprisonment as he had remained in jail since his arrest in October 2006.
The court dismissed the appeal,observing that “the viciousness and brutality of crime in such cases is immeasurable”.
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