New Delhi:
A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to ten years rigorous imprisonment by a Delhi court for kidnapping and raping a toddler after taking the child from her father on the pretext of playing with her.
The court awarded the jail term to Bablu, a waiter, after holding him guilty of kidnapping, wrongfully confining and raping the two-year-old child.
"I am of the considered opinion that the ends of justice can be met by sentencing convict Bablu to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years under Section 376 IPC (rape)," Additional Sessions Judge MC Gupta said.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Bablu.
According to the police, on the intervening night of May 24-25, 2009, the child was playing with her father outside their house and Bablu came there and started playing with the minor.
When the girl's father told Bablu, a resident of village Badli in Delhi, to leave as it was getting late, the accused asked him to let the child be with him, saying that he would leave her after playing with her, the police said.
After sometime, when the child did not return home, her father started searching for her but could not find her, it said.
The next morning, when the victim's father saw Bablu returning home, he asked him about his daughter but the accused could not give any satisfactory answer upon which other neighbours were also called, the police said.
The accused then disclosed that he had kept the minor in a park, the police said, adding that the child was recovered by her parents in an injured and semi-conscious state with the help of policemen and neighbours.
During the trial, Bablu, who was working as a waiter with a caterer, claimed innocence and said he was falsely implicated in the case.