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Child conceived in rape also a ‘victim’, must be compensated: Bombay HC – Hindustan Times

MUMBAI: A child conceived in rape is also a “victim” of the crime and must be adequately compensated, the Bombay high court said on Thursday and directed a 33-year-old disk jockey, convicted for raping and impregnating a minor girl, to pay a compensation of 2 lakh to the boy born to her.

The division bench of justice Sadhana Jadhav and justice Prithviraj Chavan issued the order after learning that the child born to the girl, who died after delivery, was not only abandoned by her family, but also by the convict, Khar resident Ramesh Vavekar, and left at the mercy of an orphanage.

The bench said under Section 2(w a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure “victim” means persons who have suffered any loss or injury caused by reason of a crime and the expression includes their guardian or legal heir.

“The child born to the victim is indeed her legal heir and also a victim in view of the definition of “victim” and therefore, he must be adequately compensated for as it was the appellant who is responsible for bringing him in this world and then abandoning him,” said the bench.

“In view of public policy, law cannot afford to allow such consequence befalling an innocent child only because he was abandoned by the father,” said the bench and directed the convict to pay 2 lakh for welfare of the child.

According to the prosecution, the episode took place in 2015, when the victim was studying in Class X. In September 2015, the Santacruz police station registered an offence under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 after she was found to be 8 months pregnant.

On October 8, 2015, she delivered the baby boy and died two days later, without revealing the name of the man who impregnated her.

Police on investigation found out that it was the disk jockey and arrested and prosecuted him for raping the minor girl. On September 26, 2018, a special POCSO court in Mumbai convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

On Thursday, the Bombay high court upheld his conviction after finding that the evidence on record proved beyond doubt that the victim was a “child” at the relevant time and the DNA profiling revealed that the 33-year-old was the father of the child delivered by her.

The high court, however, reduced his life term to imprisonment for ten years after he expressed willingness to deposit the compensation amount suggested by HC in 4 months.

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Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/child-conceived-in-rape-also-a-victim-must-be-compensated-bombay-hc-101645860375441.html