A youth has been jailed for life for repeatedly sexually assaulting his 14-year-old niece and threatening to disfigure her by throwing acid on her.

The Delhi court refused to show leniency to him, saying his act was “most cruel and gruesome”. The court said the 24-year-old convict was the maternal uncle of the minor girl and instead of protecting her honour and dignity, he became the violator due to which “sanctity of close blood relations” got polluted.

“The fact that the convict betrayed the trust, which the victim, his niece and her parents reposed in him over a continuous period of about three years prior to the reporting of the matter, makes his acts unpardonable. Rather, the acts of the convict can only be concluded to be most cruel and gruesome as they have resulted in spoiling the entire life of an innocent young girl, and thus, no leniency is called for in the matter,” Additional Sessions Judge Illa Rawat said and imposed a fine of Rs 11,000 on him.

The court held the youth guilty under section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

It directed the Delhi government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the victim for her welfare and rehabilitation under the Restorative and Compensatory Justice Scheme.Police said a complaint was lodged with Begumpur police station here in July last year by the minor’s parents alleging that their daughter had been raped several times by her maternal uncle who was living with them for last few years.

Three years prior to lodging of the complaint, the youth had repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl whenever she was alone in her house and had also threatened to disfigure her face by throwing acid and to kill her if she disclosed the incident to anyone, it said.