NEW DELHI: A Gurugram court on Wednesday awarded death sentence to a 23-year-old holding him guilty for the rape and murder of a three-year-old girl in November 2018.
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) court Judge Shashi Chauhan also took cognizance of four other similar cases registered against the convict, Sunil, stating anything less than death sentence would be unjustified in the peculiar circumstances of the present case.
“In view of the barbarity of the offences committed by the convict, there is no reason to believe that he would be reformed and would not be a menace to the society. He does not deserve any mercy,” the court said.
“… He shall be hanged by neck till he is dead, subject to the confirmation of the sentence by The Hon’ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh,” the court ordered.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him in the cases. Besides, the court also ordered the government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the rehabilitation of the victim’s family.
Sunil, a construction worker, had lured children who were playing outside his house with money. While the two other girls did not budge, the 3-year-old child agreed to accompany him to buy goodies. When she did not return home by late evening, the worried parents went on the lookout for her and filed a police complaint. The next day, the child was found dead in front of a temple.
She had been put through horrifying brutality and when her body was found, it was mutilated, naked, her face wrapped in polythene and head crushed with a rock. Wooden sticks were found inside her during post-mortem.
A week after the incident, the accused was arrested and based on his confession, cops recovered the clothes he was wearing during the crime, from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.