Man jailed for sexually assaulting teenage daughter

A man, who had sexually assaulted his teenage daughter for the past three years, has been jailed for five years by a Delhi court which termed it "an unfortunate case".

"This is an unfortunate case wherein an adolescent girl aged about 15 years levelled the allegations of sexual assault against her biological father," Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar Jain said while awarding five year jail term to Vinod Kumar. The judge denied his plea for leniency on the ground that he is the sole bread earner of the family.

"The convict is none other than the biological father of the victim. Despite that he had sexually assaulted the victim just to satisfy his lust. Thus, the contention of the defence counsel that he is the sole bread earner of the family has no relevance in the present case," the ASJ said.

The prosecution case was that on February 15, the victim along with her mother approached police station Burari where the victim got her statement recorded that her father has been outraging her modesty for the last three years. The victim also told the court that her father used to come to her in the night while she was asleep and used to touch her in an indecent manner.She said her father also used to watch her while she used to take bath.

Narrating one such incident, she said once when she asked her father not to do so, he started abusing her. When she narrated the incident to her mother, he beat them up. Her mother then sent her away to her maternal uncle's house. The accused, however, reached there also and threatened them to send the girl back. He also quarrelled with his wife and asked her to bring back the victim. It was then that the girl's mother approached the police.

On the statement of the minor, an FIR was registered under section 354 (assault with intention to outrage modesty)/ 506 (criminal intimidation) IPC and also under various provisions of the Protection of Children From Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act. The accused in his defence told the court that major disagreements had cropped up between his wife and him over a shared property and that his daughter had made false allegations against him under pressure from her mother.

The ASJ, however, held that there was no evidence in support of the plea taken by the accused and therefore, the same does not inspire any confidence.