india

Updated: Dec 23, 2018 11:17 IST

A Rewari court in Haryana has awarded capital punishment to a 19-year-old boy for raping and murdering an eight-year-old girl in June earlier this year. Completing the trial in around six months, the court of additional sessions judge Naresh Kumar termed this daylight incident a rarest of rare and said it was no lesser than the 2012 Nirbhaya case and thus deserved similar punishment.

The incident had occurred on June 9 when the victim was alone at her rented accommodation in Bawal township of the district. Her father and mother had taken her younger brother to hospital for treatment. The convicted boy, who worked at the same factory as the victim’s father and also lived in a rented room in the same house, lured the victim into his room and committed the crime. The court found during the trial that the convict first showed porn to the eight-year-old girl and then forced himself on her.

When she resisted and started crying, he gagged her mouth and tied her hands and legs with scarves. He then raped her. Fearing she might inform her family, the boy then strangulated her to death and hid her body in an almirah in his room.

When the victim’s parents returned and did not find their daughter home, the boy distracted them by telling them to have seen the victim going to her friend’s house. However, the police during interrogation got suspicious when he gave contradictory answers.

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His room was then searched and the tied body of the victim was retrieved.

The teen was booked under Sections 372 (selling minor for purposes of prostitution), 376 (rape), 201(causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He has been convicted in all of them by the court.

While announcing the quantum of punishment, the judge stated, “The court has to consider it as one of the rarest of rare case and lesser punishment than death penalty cannot be given. Further, the pain and suffering of that particular innocent child is very material. The court cannot ignore it. This case cannot be considered as lesser to Nirbhaya because the victim who was innocent, having a bright future, was murdered for the purpose of sexual act and in the day light within the vicinity of the village.”

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