New Delhi:
A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Delhi court for kidnapping and raping a two-year-old girl three years ago.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Renu Bhatnagar also held Subodh, a resident of Tughlakabad village in New Delhi, guilty of obstructing a police officer in discharging his duty and hurting him with an iron rod at the time of his arrest.
The court refused to show leniency to the convict, saying the fact that he had raped a toddler could not be ignored.
"Convict had raped a minor girl of two years which cannot be ignored by the court and his act does not deserve any leniency.
"Even the section 376 (2) (f) itself provides for a higher degree of punishment to the offenders who commit rape upon a minor girl below 12 years," it said.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the convict.
According to the prosecution, Subodh had kidnapped the child when she was alone in her house and her mother had gone to market in February 2010.
When the woman returned, she could not find her daughter at home and on searching, her neighbour told her that she had seen the minor going towards the ridge area with Subodh, it said.
The minor's parents then found the victim in the custody of the accused who also threatened them with a knife, it said.
The victim was taken to hospital the next day when her parents noticed injury marks on her body and the matter was reported to the police.
When a police officer had gone to Subodh's house to arrest him, the accused beat him up with an iron rod due to which he sustained injuries, the prosecution said.
During the trial, the man had alleged he was falsely implicated in the case by the child's parents as they had borrowed Rs 7,000 from him and were not returning the money.