Mumbai: DNA Test nails father for raping stepdaughter; court sentences 20-year jail

Mumbai: A special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) court on Tuesday sentenced a 40- year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping his teen stepdaughter and impregnating her.

The man was jailed despite the prosecution witnesses – the victim’s mother and the victim – turning hostile. The conviction was primarily based on the DNA samples from fingerprints that proved that he was the biological father of the foetus – subsequently aborted – that the girl was carrying.

The accused had been raping the girl since October 2019

As per the prosecution, the accused had been raping the girl since October 2019. In June 2020, the girl informed about the offence to her mother following which a police complaint was lodged.

The girl was 14 years old when the sexual assault began in March 2020. The man raped her repeatedly for a year before the mother learned about it and lodged a police complaint.

During the trial, however, the mother turned hostile. Special Judge Anis AJ Khan noted the admissions the daughter made during the cross-examination and said it was sufficient to prove that she was under emotional pressure from her mother. The girl had said that the accused was the only earning member of the family and that her mother wanted him to be acquitted.

Judge Khan said, “The DNA report clearly indicates that the accused is the biological father of the foetus of the girl, who committed repeated rape on her.”

“It is indeed sad, and a very heinous act committed by the accused who is the girl’s stepfather. Though prosecution witnesses 1 [victim’s mother] and 2 [victim] have chosen not to support the prosecution case and have turned hostile, scientific evidence in the form of DNA report on record proved the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubt,” the court said.