Elderly Man Gets Life In Prison For 'Digital Rape' Of 3-Year-Old Girl

In an extremely rare conviction, an elderly man in India has been sentenced to life in prison after he allegedly performed "digital rape" on a 3-year-old child.

The accused, identified as Akbar Ali, met the girl when he was visiting his daughter's home in a village near Noida, a satellite city of India's capital New Delhi. The man lured the child, who was the daughter of a neighbor, on the pretext of giving her sweets. He then "digitally raped" her. The child's parents filed a complaint against Ali after the girl told them what happened.

Police conducted a medical examination on the girl to determine rape before detaining Ali. He was charged under India's Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and was lodged at a district jail. The incident happened in 2019.

A sessions court sentenced Ali to life imprisonment Tuesday based on evidence and eight testimonies. A fine of $627(INR 50,000) was also slapped on him, local daily Mirror Now reported.

What is "digital rape"?

The term "digital rape" may look like it has something to do with cybercrime but that's not the case. The phrase actually refers to the penetration of fingers or toes inside the victim's personal areas without his or her consent. It is called so because the word "digit" also means human finger or toe.

A person convicted of this less known sexual offense can get a minimum of five years of jail time to a maximum of 10 years or life imprisonment. "Digital rape" was considered a serious sexual offense only after the rape laws were revised following the 2012 "Nirbhaya" rape case – the brutal gangrape of a 23-year-old paramedical student in New Delhi, which shocked the country.

Almost 70% of "digital rape" cases in India reportedly involve someone known to the victim. The law around "digital rape" in India seeks to protect women and children from the barbaric act of forceful sexual penetration.