We worship minor girls as goddesses: Delhi court holds two guilty in 2013 Gudiya rape case

New Delhi, Jan 18: Two men accused of kidnapping and brutally raping a five-year-old girl in Delhi in 2013 have been found guilty by a Delhi court. The quantum of punishment will be announced on January 30.

"In our society the minor girls are worshipped as goddess on certain occasions but in the present case the victim child had experienced exceptional depravity and extreme brutality," the court said while convicting the two accused.

"Collective conscience of the society shaken. In our society, minor girls are worshipped as goddess," the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court said.

In April 2013, the minor girl was gangraped and brutalised by two men, Manoj Shah and Pradeep. The accused shoved objects in the victim's private parts and abandoned her in Shah's room believing she was dead. The incident had happened four months after the Nirbhaya gang rape-and-murder case in December 2012.

Shah and Kumar were arrested by Delhi police separately from Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga in Bihar respectively in 2013. The charge sheet was filed on May 24 that year and charges were framed by the court on July 11.