Indian who raped and fathered his teen daughter's baby gets 43 years jail

A man has been sentenced for 43 years in prison for raping and impregnating his 14-year-old daughter in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

On Wednesday (6 December), the District sessions Judge Jacintha Martin awarded three consecutive terms of life imprisonment and a year's rigorous imprisonment to the 51-year-old daily wage worker, all of which would run consecutively.

The court also imposed a fine of 3,500 Indian Rupees ($54.215, £40.52). Failure to pay the fine would add another three years to his sentence.

According to court reports, S Kamaraj who has a son and a daughter had repeatedly raped his minor daughter since July 2013 by threatening to murder her.

In 2014, the girl developed physical problems and later informed her mother Pazhaniammal regarding the crime.

A medical examination confirmed that she was pregnant. The pregnancy could not be terminated as it would be dangerous to the girl's health.

The girl's mother later lodged a complaint with the local all-women police station on 31 December, 2014.

Following the complaint, case under various sections including the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered and Kamaraj was arrested.

When the police investigation began, it was revealed that Kamaraj had already spent seven years in prison for the murder of a neighbour.

Upon his release, when he was in search of a job, he used to force himself on his daughter and raped her when his wife was out for work.

Meanwhile, his daughter had delivered a baby girl in March 2015. The baby was given to the adoption centre run by the hospital.

However, in June 2015, the infant died due to various complications.

The police later exhumed the baby's body in order to prove Kamaraj's crime and a DNA test was carried out in October 2015.

"The DNA test confirmed that the girl was impregnated by her father Kamaraj," special public prosecutor G Krishnaveni Thamaraiselvan said.

According to the public prosecutor, this is the second most severe punishment under the POCSO Act in Tamil Nadu.