When ‘serial rapist’ Ravinder Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court Thursday for kidnapping, raping and murdering a minor girl, her parents back in their village in UP were unmoved — they had already lost a part of them eight years ago. Speaking to The Indian Express Friday, the girl's 62-year-old father, an e-rickshaw driver, said he was not satisfied with the court’s view but can do nothing but to “accept it and move on”. “The eight-year struggle of living without our daughter has been the toughest. What was her fault? Or that of several other innocent children?. I used to go to Delhi on important court dates as I wanted him (Ravinder) to be punished or rather, hanged. However, he was only given a life sentence.,” he said. The father, who moved out of Delhi three years ago with his family, said he had admitted his daughter to class 2 in a government school in 2015. A few months later, she went missing. “She was our youngest child and has two other brothers. We always had high hopes for her as any parent would. On that day, she had gone out to relieve herself. it’s when she didn’t return for two-three hours that we realised she was missing and approached the police. Little did we know that she had become a victim to such a gruesome incident,” he said. The girl’s mother, a housewife, said ever since the incident, she is scared to go out. “A fear sets in when a family goes through such a horror. I have almost stopped going out and don't even let my daughter-in-law step out after dark. We have become fiercely protective of each other even as we regret not being able to stop what happened with our daughter,” she said. Added the mother: “We will use the Rs 15 lakh that we receive as compensation to educate our 2-year-old granddaughter. We did not receive an education. our husband’s meagre salary was spent to help our children study. We will now devote this money to our grandchild and hope she achieves what we had dreamt of for our daughter.” In the 25-page-order passed by Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar, the court stated that it had no hesitation to hold that the act of Ravinder “was not less than an act of a predator which has shaken the conscience of society and accused does not deserve any leniency on any account”. While noting that the present case does not fall in the rarest of rare case as to award the death sentence, ASJ Kumar had, however, said: “I am of the firm view that no leniency should be taken towards the convict and the maximum punishment should be given. so a message should be given in society that there is no sympathy for criminals in our judicial system and every convict shall be awarded an adequate sentence.” Police had claimed that after being arrested in connection with the case in question, Ravinder had allegedly confessed to raping and murdering at least 38 minor children in various areas of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. He was convicted under the POCSO Act and IPC sections pertaining to murder and kidnapping by the Rohini court on May 6.
