New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- The Delhi High Court has upheld a trial court's conviction of a woman for abetting the repeated rape of her 11-year-old daughter, stating that the mother "actively facilitated" the sexual assaults instead of protecting her child. A bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, in a September 18 verdict, dismissed the woman's appeal against her 25-year prison sentence, emphasising the "stark" nature of the case where a parent became "instrumental in enabling" the abuse. "The facts of the present case are stark, as the mother, who is expected to safeguard her child, instead became instrumental in enabling and facilitating the repeated commission of the heinous offence of penetrative sexual assault upon her own daughter," the court said in its verdict released on Friday. The woman's conviction originated from a first information report (FIR) filed by her husband in January 2020, alleging that his wife and another man engaged in sexual activity while he worked night shifts, deliberately making their daughter sleep beside them. The case was filed under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape and section 6 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) Act. The trial court, in February this year, had convicted the man of rape and aggravated penetrative sexual assault, and the woman of abetting the sexual assault and failure to report the commission of an offence against a minor. The woman was handed a 25-year jail term. In her appeal before the high court, the woman, represented by advocate Himanshu Gupta, claimed false implication and pointed to alleged contradictions and inconsistencies in testimonies from the victim, father, and grandparents. Ruling against the woman, the hight court emphasised that oral and documentary evidence clearly established the child's repeated sexual assault at a tender age....