What Is Digital Rape? Noida Man Punished With Life Imprisonment For Crime

A 65-year old man in Noida has been sentenced to life imprisonment for digitally raping a 3-year old girl two year ago. What exactly is Digital Rape? What are the laws made for this crime? Read this article till end, we will discuss everything related to Digital Rape here.

‘Digital Rape’ the term is in trending after the Surajpur session court convicted a 65-year old man from West Bengal. He has been sentenced life imprisonment for digitally raping a 3-year old girl two year ago. This is perhaps the first-of-its-kind conviction under IPC Section 375 (rape) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.

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According to a Firstpost Report, In 2019, Akbar Ali, a resident of Malda, West Bengal visited his married daughter in Salarpur of Noida Sector-45, where he lured his neighbor’s 3-year-old daughter on the pretext of giving candies. Ali then took her inside and digitally raped her. After the girl went back home crying, her parents filed a complaint against the 65-year-old Akbar Ali. He was arrested later the same day and has been in district jail ever since. “He even appealed for an interim bail in sessions as well as the high court, however, the pleas were quashed,” public prosecutor Nitin Bishnoi said. 

“Following the complaint, a medical examination of the victim was conducted which later confirmed rape,” Nitin added.

Also Read: Rape Victin Assaulted And Paraded With Garland Of Slippers On Street Of Delhi

On Tuesday, the court of Surajpur district and sessions judge Anil Kumar Singh pronounced Akbar Ali to life in prison on the basis of circumstantial evidence, medical report, and eight testimonies. Ali has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 50,000.

What is Digital Rape?

Unlike the name, ‘Digital Rape’ does not refer to virtual or online rape. Instead, Digital Rape refers to the act of forcefully penetrating someone using their ‘digits’ i.e. fingers, thumbs, or toes.

The word ‘digit’ in the English language dictionary means finger, thumb or toe, which is why the act has been termed as ‘digital rape’.

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The strange fact is that digital rape was not considered a rape until the Nirbhaya case in 2012. Until December 2012, ‘digital rape’ was considered as molestation and was not considered rape. After the Nirbhaya gang-rape incident that new rape laws were introduced in the parliament and the act was classified as a sexual offence under IPC Section 375 and Protection of Children from Sexual offenses (POCSO) Act.

Other Cases of Digital Rape

According to a report of Firstpost, Manoj Lala, a 50-year-old from Noida, was arrested for digitally raping a seven-month-old girl child In August 2022.

The same report tells us about another case from June 2022, when a father from Noida was accused of digitally raping his five-year-old child and was nabbed after her mother’s FIR.

As per a Firstpost report, an 80-year-old artist-cum-teacher was accused of digitally raping a girl for seven years in 2021. The girl filed a complaint against the offender after turning 17.

Analysis

According to a report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) this week, India registered over 31,000 cases of rape in 2021.

Delhi registered 1,250 cases of rape while Haryana 1700, and Uttar Pradesh is in top with  2,845 registered cases of rape in 2021.

According to Legal Service India, in 29% of the rapes, the perpetrator knows the survivor. The offender was someone the victim knew through their social circle; someone they knew through their friends or at work. 

Also Read: 10 Horrific Indian Rape Cases Of The Decade That Shook The Whole Country

The latest first-of-its-kind conviction is definitely a positive approach from the Indian jurisdiction. Obviously gradual but it is a beginning of change for sure…

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