68-year-old man from Uttarakhand gets 20 years in prison for raping 15-year-old girl 3 years ago | News from Dehradun

DEHRADUN: The district and sessions court in Pauri Garhwal sentenced a 68-year-old man to 20 years in prison for repeatedly raping and impregnating his neighbour’s 15-year-old daughter in 2021. A DNA test that matched the newborn child to the man convicted the accused.

ADGC Vijendra Singh Rawat said on Saturday, “During the trial, the prosecution presented 13 witnesses and a DNA report. District and Sessions Judge Ajay Chaudhary on Friday pronounced the verdict after considering all the evidence along with a fine of Rs 20,000. The court also directed the district legal authority to pay compensation of Rs 500,000 to the survivor.”

The ADGC added, “The crime took place in a small village in Pauri Garhwal district. The girl, who was then in class eleven, was raped multiple times, which led to her pregnancy.”

The minor’s parents came to know about her advanced pregnancy when doctors at AIIMS-Rishikesh examined her. Her father, a labourer, filed a police complaint on January 12, 2021, and the man was arrested a week later. Subsequently, an FIR was filed against him under IPC Section 376 (rape) and Pocso Act. In her statement, the girl said she was on her way to water cattle when the man from the same neighbourhood invited her to his house and offered her sweets. “I fell unconscious after the ‘laddu’ and woke up to find that I had been raped by the neighbour…,” she had said.