MATHURA: A POCSO court in Mathura on Monday awarded a death sentence to a man for sexually assaulting and killing a nine-year-old boy, a government official said.
"Special Judge POCSO court Ram Kishor Yadav, after hearing both the sides, awarded the death sentence to the accused Mohd Saif," special District Government Counsel (DGC) POCSO court Alka Upmanyu said.
The judge pronounced the verdict in a record trial of 15 working days, he said.
According to the prosecution, an FIR was filed in Sadar Bazar Police Station by the father of the minor boy about his disappearance from the Aurangabad area of Mathura on April 9.
The following day, on the basis of CCTV footage, police arrested Saif, a resident of Kanpur, presently living in Aurangabad.
Saif was an employee in the shop of the uncle of the deceased.
On interrogation, the accused not only disclosed that he had sexually assaulted the boy but also killed him, abandoning the dead body about 500 metre away near a drain after which the FIR of the missing child was converted into Section 363, 302, 201 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 6 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) act.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on the convict and said in case of failure to pay it, the accused will have to undergo simple imprisonment also.
Eighty per cent of the fine will be given to the parents of the deceased who are the legal heir, she added.