Court calls the act a symbol of moral collapse, questions safety of daughters at home
Anantnag: A court in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Friday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for raping his minor daughter, describing the act as an example of “extreme depravity and moral degeneration.”
Delivering the verdict, Principal District and Sessions Judge Tahir Khurshid Raina referred to the victim’s distressing testimony, in which she had asked her father during the assault, “Does any father do this to his daughter?” The court said the question reflected her helplessness and served as a painful reminder to society at large.
“The act represents a complete breakdown of ethical and moral values,” the judge observed, adding that the incident raises a disturbing question—“Are our daughters truly safe in their homes?”
Judge Raina noted that it was not an isolated case, citing another ongoing trial in which a grandfather is accused of repeatedly raping his granddaughter for two years. “By no stretch of imagination can it be expected that a man can turn into such a beast,” the court remarked.
The court said it was “shell-shocked” while convicting the man, stating that the crime had “cast a death shadow on the sacred bond between a father and a daughter, a relationship built on love and protection.”
The man was convicted on October 15 and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life. His identity has been withheld to protect that of the survivor.
The case was registered in 2022 at the Women’s Police Station, Anantnag, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The court also directed the District Legal Services Authority to provide compensation of at least Rs 10 lakh to the survivor.
The amount will be kept in a fixed deposit account under the supervision of the Child Welfare Committee, with withdrawals permitted only for her education, medical, or psychological needs.
