NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday awarded death penalty to a man for killing an 11-year-old child after kidnapping him in 2009, saying the act was "cruel and gruesome" and did not deserve leniency.
The court awarded the punishment to Jeevak Nagpal who was the victim's neighbour in Rohini in the national capital.
"For such an act, the convict does not deserve any leniency and the life imprisonment is highly inadequate and there is no alternative but to impose death sentence," Additional Sessions Judge Shivaji Anand said, terming the case "rarest of rare".
"Upon consideration of the facts and circumstances of the present case, I am of the considered opinion that the act of convict was cruel and gruesome while committing the murder of an innocent child, who was hardly 12 years of age," the judge said.
According to advocate Prashant Diwan, who appeared for the complainant, the convict had kidnapped the child on March 18, 2009 and sent several messages to his father demanding ransom.
He also threatened that in case the ransom demand was not fulfilled, his son would be killed and his house destroyed.
The convict thereafter murdered the child by causing him injuries with jack handle of his car and by smothering.
After murdering the child, he threw the body in a dry drain.