SURAT: A special court in Surat sentenced a 35-year-old man to imprisonment until his last breath for repeatedly raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter over a span of four years.
Tired of enduring years of abuse, the victim bravely gathered evidence by secretly capturing photographic evidence of the crime using a mobile phone. She confided in a friend, who gave her a mobile phone. Using an app installed on the mobile, the friend's husband remotely captured images as evidence, helping her gather proof against the predator.
The accused had raped the girl repeatedly since she was eight years old. The court pronounced its verdict just five months after the crime was reported in a speedy trial.
According to the case details, the 35-year-old lived with the girl's 40-year-old mother in the Kapodra area for eight years. He began sexually abusing the girl when she was eight years old. The girl confided in a friend, whose husband gave her a mobile with an app installed. She placed the mobile in her room in a manner that allowed her friend's husband to remotely see what was happening.
The accused tried to rape the girl one night and her friend's husband recorded evidence of the crime on his phone. He immediately alerted the girl's mother, who rushed into the room and prevented the crime.
A few days later, on May 28, the accused raped the girl when she was alone at home. When she complained to her mother, they decided to file a complaint with Kapodra police.
Police inspectors M R Solanki and M B Ausura, who were tasked with the investigation, collected the evidence, including the images, and filed a chargesheet on July 7. Additional public prosecutor M K Brahmabhatt argued the case for the state.
Special judge (Pocso court) Vinod Parmar observed that such crimes are not only an assault on women but on all of society. "Repeated rape of a young girl of such tender age must have caused deep trauma in her mind, the extent of which is hard to fathom. The effects of such incidents will remain in the child's mind for life. If we treat this crime lightly and impose lesser punishment, it will send the wrong message to society," he noted.
The court also ordered that Rs 6 lakh be paid to victim under the compensation scheme.
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