Man jailed for life for raping niece

A man found guilty of committing incestuous rape on his minor niece resulting in the girl getting pregnant and then suffering a natural abortion has been awarded life imprisonment by a Delhi court which also directed government to pay Rs 1 lakh compensation to the victim.

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau sentenced 29-year-old Tara Chand, a native of Uttarakhand and a father of a minor son, to life in jail and a fine of Rs 10,000 for raping her minor niece after consuming alcohol.

"Convict Tara Chand had been regularly and unashamedly raping his own niece hardly aged 13-14 years after voluntarily consuming alcohol.

"Not only did he violate the body of child but he also tormented her mentally and played treachery with the family of the child who had given him shelter. Let alone leniency he deserves exemplary punishment," the court said, noting the case related to "intra familial sex abuse (or Incest)."

Observing that the act of the convict is unpardonable, the court said, "as per the official statistics a total of 568 cases of rape have been reported in Delhi alone in 2011 out of which only 2 per cent have been committed by strangers."

The judge also directed Delhi government to grant a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the victim, studying in class 6th, to provide her "restorative and compensatory justice".

Chand was the maternal uncle of the victim and had come to Delhi nearly five months prior to the incident in search of employment. Due to his poor economic condition, the girl's father helped him get a job at the hotel where he was a cook and also allowed him to stay with them in their one room rented accomodation in north west Delhi.

The convict used to sleep in the same room as the victim and her parents.

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