A father who allegedly raped his 14-year-old daughter and the victim's elder brother, who joined him in the crime, have moved the Supreme Court challenging the life imprisonment awarded to them for the offence.
Syed Issaq and his son Syed Shahabuddin, both residents of Hafeez Baba Nagar in Hyderabad's Old City, claimed that they have been falsely implicated by the victim's mother Safia Banu.
Counsel G Madhavi, appearing for the duo, claimed that the conviction recorded by the sessions court and upheld by Andhra Pradesh High Court was erroneous as they were convicted on the basis of a DNA report which established that the foetus in the victim's womb was that of Shahabuddin.
Madhavi said that the DNA test could not have been the basis for the duo's conviction as the victim, after making a statement to police that the brother too had raped her, subsequently turned hostile during the trial.
During the trial she merely testified against her father for repeatedly raping her.
The petitioner submitted that the DNA test was not a reliable piece of evidence.
According to the petition, despite the fact that the victim had turned hostile and refused to name her brother Shahabuddin, the trial court awarded the maximum sentence of life imprisonment permissible under Section 376 IPC (rape) for the father and son.
It was the prosecution's case that the victim was repeatedly raped by the father when his wife went out for work as a maid servant. The brother too on certain occasions is said to have committed the heinous offence.
The girl was threatened with dire consequences if she revealed the matter to anybody. Though the victim had initially brought the matter to the notice of her paternal grandmother, the latter is said to have silenced her saying "such things keep happening in every home and there was nothing unusual".
However, the girl complained about stomach pain to her mother and sister-in-law who took her to a hospital where she was declared pregnant. On the basis of the complaint lodged by the trio, police arrested the father and son on April 20, 2005.
