A special fast-track court in Nuh on Tuesday sentenced a 31-year-old physically challenged man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹25,000 for raping his six-year-old daughter, relying primarily on the victim’s testimony that her father had sexually assaulted her multiple times in the past.The man had sent his minor son to watch TV to conceal the crime; he fled after being caught but was arrested four months later in March 2025. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Additional sessions judge Ashu Sanjeev Tinjan convicted the man under section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. The court also invoked section 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.The assault took place on November 22, 2024, when the mother had rushed to Bulandshahr after news of a relative’s death, leaving the daughter and her minor brother with their father. The mother returned unannounced, heard her daughter’s cries, and found her husband with the child in an objectionable condition, officials said. The suspect had instructed his minor son to keep watching TV and not enter the other room. He fled but was arrested in March 2025, they added.An FIR was registered at Rozka Meo police station on November 26, 2024. Special public prosecutor Vijay Sehrawat said 12 witnesses, including a neighbourhood eyewitness and the investigating officer, supported the prosecution. Sehrawat said it was on the victim’s testimony based on which the court pronounced the accused guilty of raping her.“In her testimony, the victim told the court that her father had sexually assaulted multiple times in the past too in absence of her mother. He used to threaten her with dire consequences too on which the court relied strongly,” he said.“The mother also deposed supporting the prosecution case about the incident of November 22 when she had rescued her daughter,” he said.