Kolkata, Sep 20 : A fast-track district court in Alipurduar district of West Bengal, on Saturday, sentenced a convict of raping his own minor daughter multiple times in 2023 to rigorous imprisonment for 20 years.

The fast-track court even imposed a financial penalty of Rs 10,000 on the convicted father. In case of non-payment of the penalty amount, he will be subjected to rigorous imprisonment for another two months.

The police complaint against the convicted father, a resident of the Shamuktala area in Alipurduar district of West Bengal, was filed by his own minor daughter at the local station in January 2023, accusing her father of raping her multiple times.

In her complaint, she said that after her mother's death a few months before, she and her minor daughter stayed at their ancestral residence with their father.

As per the complaint, after some time after her mother's death, she was raped for the first time by her own father, and thereafter he committed the crime many more times.

Although she remained silent initially, after some time, she decided to bring the matter to the notice of the police. The police, after an initial investigation, arrested the accused father and registered a case against him.

During the investigation, it was also revealed that he used to physically torture his deceased wife when the latter was alive. In the same year, the police filed the charegsheet against the accused at the fast-track court at Alipurduar, and thereafter the trial process started.

The statements of a total of 15 witnesses were recorded during the trial process, and finally, the accused father was first convicted and then sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.

The court has also directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to the victim.

West Bengal had been in the national headlines for the last one year over reports of ghastly rapes and rape-murder instances, with many cases involving minors.

The most talked about case on this count was the ghastly rape & murder of a lady junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises last year.

/IANS