‘Festival of lights turned into darkness’: Man jailed for 25 years for raping 2-year-old
The Judge, however, noted that there was no distinction between digital and penile penetration. It also rejected the other factors that the convict had cited as “mitigating”. The court also awarded Rs 13.5 lakh compensation to the victim and her family.
4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Nov 22, 2025 10:33 AM IST
The investigation and trial in this case were both completed within one month of the commission of the offence. The prosecution had examined the parents of the victim and neighbours as witnesses.
A Delhi court on Thursday sentenced a 30-year-old man to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a two-year-old girl on Diwali last month.
“The victim was in the safest place in her world, which was her home, but the convict made it unsafe for her. Moreover, the festival of lights turned into darkness that will remain with her and her family for the rest of their life,” said Additional Sessions Judge Babita Puniya of Tis Hazari court in her sentencing order.
The accused, who was convicted on Wednesday under Section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, had argued for leniency in the sentence, stating several factors, including being intoxicated, belonging to a lower stratum of society and being uneducated.
He was a friend of the victim’s father. He had also argued that leniency may be granted since this was a case of “digital penetration”, which refers to non-consensual penetration of a person’s private parts using fingers or toes. The Judge, however, noted that there was no distinction between digital and penile penetration. It also rejected the other factors that the convict had cited as “mitigating”. The court also awarded Rs 13.5 lakh compensation to the victim and her family.
“The legislature has not made any distinction between digital penetration and penile penetration. Penetration, as per rape law, can be penile/vaginal, penile/oral, penile/anal, object or finger/vaginal and object or finger/anal penetration,” the court said. The court underlined, “Certain rape cases like Nirbhaya, Kathua gained spotlight among the media, which resulted in hue and cry among the society. After these cases, certain amendments were made in the existing law. However, a court must not be swayed away by the emotions of the society ignoring the principles laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.”
It added, “…this Court will approach the sentencing of the convict on the basis that it is in the interest of justice that crime should be punished and that such punishment should be proportionate to the gravity of the offence since excessive punishment does not serve the interest of justice nor those of society.”
The investigation and trial in this case were both completed within one month of the commission of the offence. The prosecution had examined the parents of the victim and neighbours as witnesses.
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The convict had raised an alibi as a defence and had denied going to the house of the complainant. The court, however, noted that he had not produced a “shred of evidence that he had not gone anywhere on the evening of Diwali”.
Judge Puniya also relied on the forensic evidence analysis, which confirmed the presence of the blood on the victim’s clothes.
“In view of the above discussion, the circumstances like the shrieks of the victim, her mother, finding her daughter on the bed with the accused near her legs, blood on her private parts as well as on her lower garments, and the beating inflicted on the accused by the public have been proved by the prosecution,” she said in her conviction order dated November 19.
She also said, “I am of the view that though the suffering of the victim and her family cannot be compensated in monetary terms, it would provide financial solace to her.”
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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