A fast-track court in Chandigarh on Thursday sentenced two brothers, convicted for raping their 10-year-old niece, to life imprisonment, the Hindustan Times reported. The bench had held the two guilty of the crime on Tuesday. They were both fined Rs 3,05,000 each.
Both men had confessed to raping the child, who got pregnant after being sexually assaulted multiple times. She had delivered the baby at a hospital in Chandigarh on August 17 after the Supreme Court had denied her abortion plea at 32 weeks on July 28. The girl had approached the top court after a Chandigarh district court, on July 18, had refused to allow her to abort her six-month-old foetus on the grounds that it would put her health and life at risk.
The police had first arrested the elder brother based on the girl’s statement. But in September, forensic reports had showed that the baby’s DNA did not match his DNA. The police then arrested the younger brother on September 19 after the girl named him during a counselling session. His DNA matched with the baby’s.
The girl’s parents have been given Rs 1 lakh under the Chandigarh Victim Assistance Scheme, the Hindustan Times reported. The Supreme Court had ordered the administration of the Chandigarh Union Territory to set up a Rs 10-lakh fund for the 10-year-old. The remaining Rs 9 lakh, which has not been released yet, will be parked in a fixed deposit for future use.
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