PATNA: A court in Madhubani district on Tuesday awarded death sentence to two men Sushil Kumar Rai and Om Prakash Jha in a gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old dalit girl.
Syed Mohammad Fazlul Bari, judicial magistrate, POCSO court, Madhubani ,delivered the verdict after hearing the case from both the prosecution and the defence. The court also slapped a fine of Rs.1.20 lakh each on the accused.
The court, in its order, said that the amount realised from the two convicts as fine would be given to the victim’s family. In addition, the court directed the government to pay Rs.8 lakh as compensation to the rape victim’s family as compensation.
The brutal rape and murder case occurred in a village in Madhubani district in 2023.
The court observed that the incident comes under ‘rarest of the rare’ category and severe punishment awarded to accused will work as a deterrent to incidents of crime against women. The court further said that the capital punishment awarded to the convict is a significant step towards delivering justice to the victim’s family.
According to the prosecution, the horrifying incident took place when the victim was playing outside her residence in June 2023. They took the girl to a make-shift house in Kosi Colony at Jay Nagar, raped her and later killed her by gaging with a towel. The body was dumped in the make-shift room made of asbestos.
On the next day, police arrested Om Prakash Jha and recovered the body of the victim. They also recovered blood-stained clothes of the accused from the spot and sent to the forensic science laboratory for test. The accused were held guilty under sections 366 (A), 376(D), 302/34, 4/5 POCSO Act and 3/5 SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Altogether 18 witnesses were examined by the court.
Dalit minor rape case: Bihar govt suspends two medical officials of PMCH
Meanwhile, state health department on Tuesday suspended deputy superintendent of Patna Medical College and Hospital Dr. Abhijeet Singh and superintendent of SKMCH, Muzaffarpur, Dr. Kumari Vibha for negligence in treatment of a nine-year-old Dalit rape victim from Muzaffarpur. The girl was made to wait for over four hours in an ambulance as bed was not available at PMCH. The victim’s family alleged that she died on Sunday morning, within 24 hours of her admission to PMCH, due to a delay in treatment.
Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary said that a three-member team has been constituted to probe the role of the hospital administration in the entire episode. “Further action will be taken based on the report,” he said.
On Tuesday, leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram met the rape victim’s family in Muzaffarpur and assured their support to fight for justice.
Tejashwi slammed chief minister Nitish Kumar and Health Minister Mangal Pandey for negligence on the part of hospital administration, which resulted in the Dalit girl’s death.
Earlier, the state women commission took suo motu cognisance of the incident and sought a report from the state government.